Page:Max Havelaar Or The Coffee Sales of the Netherlands Trading Company Siebenhaar.djvu/224

—“My child, that is the ninth hour striking: hark!
The night wind murmurs, and the air grows cool,
Perhaps too cool for you; your forehead glows!
All day you have been busy with wild games;
You must be tired: come now, your Tekar^[1] waits.”
—“O, mother, leave me a few moments yet!
It is so cosy resting here . . . and there,
Inside upon my mat, I sleep at once,
And know not even what I’m dreaming! Here
I straightway whisper to you what I dream,
And ask you what may be the meaning . . . hark,
What was that sound?
       —“A klappa^[2] that fell down.”
—“And does that hurt the klappa?”
           —“I think not,
For neither fruit nor stone, they say, have feeling.”
—“But has not even a flower feeling?”
         —“No,
They say it has no feeling.”
      —“Why then, mother,
When yesterday I broke the Pukul ampat,^[3]
You said: that makes the lovely flower feel pain?”
—“My child, the Pukul ampat was so fair,
You roughly tore apart the tender leaves,
I felt quite sorry for the gentle flower.
E’en though the flower itself may feel it not,
I felt it for the flower that was so fair.”
—“But, mother, are you also fair?”
         —“No, child,
I think not.”
    —“But then you have feeling, surely.”
—“Yes, men have feeling . . . but not all alike.”
—“Can anything give you pain? Does it hurt you
When in your lap my head rests heavily?”
—“No, that gives me no pain!”
      —“And, mother, I . . .
Have I too feeling?”
     —“Certainly! Remember
How once you tripped, and falling on a stone,
You hurt your little hand, and cried aloud.

1. Small mat.
2. Coco-nut.
3. A flower that opens at 4 p.m. and closes at dawn.