84 CRADLE TALES OF HINDUISM
half fought against the other. " Alas I alas I " he lamented; '< there sleepeth my beloved on the bare earth, like one forlorn 1 What will she do when she awaketh ? How will she wander alone through the perils of these woods ? May the Sun himself — thou blessed One 1 — and the Guardian Spirits, and the Stars and the Winds, be thy protectors, thy womanly honour being its own best guard I " * And addressing thus his dear wife, peerless in beauty, Nala strove to go, being reft of his reason by Koli. Till at last, stupefied and bereft of his senses, Nala forsook his sleeping wife. In sorrow departed he, maddened and distraught, leaving her alone in that solitary forest.
Three years had gone by, and once more Dama- yanti was dwelling, — but now with her children by her side, — in her father's house. For Bhima had sent out messengers in all directions to seek for her, and by them had she been found and brought back to her own people. But always she wore but half a veil, never would she use ornaments, and ever she waited sorrowfully for the coming again of her husband, Nala, For in all this time he had never been heard of.
Now it had happened to Nala that on finally leaving Damayanti he saw a mighty forest-fire,
^ LU* — Adityu, Va&us, Ashwins, and M&rats.
