Page:The Kural or The Maxims Of Tiruvalluvar.pdf/45

Now the pair live a happy married life for some time, but the husband has soon to part for the wars from which, he tells his wife, he would soon return laden with glory and wealth. The wife cannot bear even the thought of separation. She will surely die if he leaves her. "If there is anything about not parting, speak it to me: but if it is only thy speedy return, tell it to those who will survive till then." (1151). But he persuades her to allow him to part, and goes away. Wars and battles, however, do not hurry on to an end for the sake of young ladies, and the husband does not return within the appointed time. The pangs and pains of the wife's love-sickness are described by the poet in 11 beautiful chapters, all the verses of which are gems sparkling with the light of fancy or expressing some of the tenderest emotions of the love-oppressed heart. The husband at last returns. The wife at first sulks because of his overstay, but cannot really withstand the passion of her heart to clasp him to her arms. Bouderie as one of the incidents of married life is described in three beautiful chapters, which are the last