76. When the sweet notes of the young _kokila_, serve to ravish the ears of hearers, with the gladsome tidings of the vernal season; there is the grating cry of the crow, immediately obtruding upon their ears, and demanding the melodious cuckoo as its foster child. (It is well known to all here, that young cuckoos are fostered in the nests of crows). 77. Why and what hast thou been cooing so long, O thou tender cuckoo, with so much joy and glee in yonder grove; lo! thy pleasant vernal season is too soon over with its fading flowers, and behold the stern winter approaching fast, to blast the blossoming trees with its icy breath, and bidding thee to hide thy head in thy nest. 78. A separated mistress seeing a sweet kokila, pour forth his notes to the tender blossoms of the vernal season thus address to him saying: “say, O sweet cuckoo! who taught thee to tell, that vernal season is _tava tava tua tua_, _i.e._ “for thee and thy enjoyment,” this is verily a woeful lie thou tellest me, instead of saying “it is mine and mine” that art enjoying thy companion.” (It would better rendering in English to reverse the application of the words mine and thine). 79. The cuckoo sitting silent in an assemblage of crows, appears as one of them in its form and colour of its feathers; and the graceful gait of the cuckoo, makes it known from the rest, as the wise man is marked in the company of fools. It is hence that every body is respected by his inward talents and outward deportment, more than by outer form and feathers. 80. O brother kokila! it is in vain that thou dost coo so sweetly, when there is none to appreciate its value; it is far better therefore, that thou shouldst sit quiet in thy secluded covert under the shady leaves, when these flocks of crows are so loud in their cries; and when it is time for the falling dews, and not of vernal flowers. 81. It is to be wondered, that the young cuckoo forsakes its mother for its fostering crow; which on her part begins to prick it with its bill and claws. As I reflect on these, I find the young cuckoo growing in its form to the likeness of its mother; and hence I conclude, that the nature of a person prevails over his training every where. CHAPTER CXVII. DESCRIPTION OF THE LOTUS-LAKE, BEE AND THE SWAN. Argument:--Description of a Lake of lotus, and the bees and swans frequenting them. The companions said:--Behold there, O lord! the lotus lake on the tableland of the mountain; reflecting the sky in its bosom, and resembling the pleasure pond of Káma or Cupid. Behold there the beds of white, red and blue lotuses, with their protruding stalks; and listen to the mingled sounds of the water fowls sporting thereon. 2. Lo the full blown lotus standing on its stalk with its thousand petals, and the royal gander or swan resting on its pericarp; it is crowded by double streaked bees, and birds of various kinds, as if it were the abode of the lotus-seated Brahmá himself.