Hello! here I am--but no! Both the particular occasion and the general custom demand that I speak Prākrit. [_Speaking in Prākrit._] Confound it! I've been practising so long and I'm so hungry that my limbs are as weak as dried-up lotus-stalks. Suppose I go home and see whether my good wife has got anything ready or not. [_He walks about and looks around him._] Here I am at home. I'll just go in. [_He enters and looks about._] Merciful heavens! Why in the world is everything in our house turned upside down? A long stream of rice-water is flowing down the street. The ground, spotted black where the iron kettle has been rubbed clean, is as lovely as a girl with the beauty-marks of black cosmetic on her face. It smells so good that my hunger seems to blaze up and hurts me more than ever. Has some hidden treasure come to light? or am I hungry enough to think the whole world is made of rice? There surely isn't any breakfast in our house, and I'm starved to death. But everything seems topsyturvy here. One girl is preparing cosmetics, another is weaving garlands of flowers. [_Reflecting._] What does it all mean? Well, I'll call my good wife and learn the truth. [_He looks toward the dressing-room._] Mistress, will you come here a moment? [_Enter an actress._] _Actress._ Here I am, sir. _Director._ You are very welcome, mistress. _Actress._ Command me, sir. What am I to do? [3.8. S. _Director._ Mistress, I've been practising so long and I'm so hungry that my limbs are as weak as dried-up lotus-stalks. Is there anything to eat in the house or not? _Actress._ There's everything, sir. _Director._ Well, what? _Actress._ For instance--there's rice with sugar, melted butter, curdled milk, rice; and, all together, it makes you a dish fit for heaven. May the gods always be thus gracious to you! _Director._ All that in our house? or are you joking? _Actress._ [_Aside._] Yes, I will have my joke. [_Aloud._] It's in the market-place, sir. _Director._ [_Angrily._] You wretched woman, thus shall your own hope be cut off! And death shall find you out! For my expectations, like a scaffolding, have been raised so high, only to fall again. _Actress._ Forgive me, sir, forgive me! It was only a joke. _Director._ But what do these unusual preparations mean? One girl is preparing cosmetics, another is weaving garlands, and the very ground is adorned with sacrificial flowers of five different colors. _Actress._ This is a fast day, sir. _Director._ What fast? _Actress._ The fast for a handsome husband. _Director._ In this world, mistress, or the next? _Actress._ In the next world, sir. _Director._ [_Wrathfully._] Gentlemen! look at this. She is sacrificing my food to get herself a husband in the next world. _Actress._ Don't be angry, sir. I am fasting in the hope that you may be my husband in my next birth, too. _Director._ But who suggested this fast to you? _Actress._ Your own dear friend Jūrnavriddha.