I see we must make clearer our meaning. Catch him. Let's raise him up, shoulder high, and take him back to his den. _Dada_ Why are you so excited to-day? Have you any particular business to do? Yes, we have very urgent business,--very urgent indeed. _Dada_ What is your business about? We are out to seek a play for our Spring festival. _Dada_ Play! Day and night, play! (_They sing._) _We are free, my friends, from the fear of work, For we know that work is play,--the play of life. It is Play, to fight and toss, between life and death; It is Play that flashes in the laughter of light in the infinite heart; It roars in the wind, and surges in the sea._ Oh, here comes our Leader. Brothers--our Leader, our Leader. _Leader_ Hallo! What a noise you make! Was it that which made you come out of doors? _Leader_ Yes. Well, we did it for that very purpose. _Leader_ You don't want me to remain indoors? Why remain indoors? This outer world has been made with a lavish expenditure of sun and moon and stars. Let us enjoy it, and then we can save God's face for indulging in such extravagance. _Leader_ What were you discussing? This: (_They sing_.) _Play blooms in flower and ripens in fruit In the sunshine of eternal youth. Play bursts up in the blood-red fire, and licks into ashes the decaying and the dead._ Our Dada's objection was about this play. _Dada_ Shall I tell you the reason why? Yes, Dada, you may tell us, but we shan't promise to listen. _Dada_ Here it is: _Time is the capital of work, And Play is its defalcation. Play rifles the house, and then wastes its spoil, Therefore the wise call it worse than useless._ _Chandra_ But surely, Dada, you are talking nonsense. Time itself is Play. Its only object is Pas-time. _Dada_ Then what is Work? _Chandra_ Work is the dust raised by the passing of Time. _Dada_ Leader, you must give us your answers. _Leader_ No. I never give answers. I lead on from one question to another. That is my leadership. _Dada_ Everything else has its limits, but your childishness is absolutely unbounded. Do you know the reason? It is because we are really nothing but children. And everything else has its limitations except the child. _Dada_ Won't you ever attain Age? No, we shall never attain Age. We shall die old, but never attain Age. _Chandra_ When we meet Age, we shall shave his head, and put him on a donkey, and send him across the river. Oh, you can save yourself the trouble of shaving his head for Age is bald. (_They sing_.) _Our hair shall never turn grey, Never. There is no blank in this world for us, no break in our road, It may be an illusion that we follow, But it shall never play us false, Never._ (_The Leader sings_.)