"
Kunda continued weeping.
Again Kamal asked, "Will you go? Only consider my brother's condition,
his wife's."
Kunda, after a long interval, wiped her eyes, sat up, and said, "I
will go."
Why this consent after so long an interval? Kamal understood that
Kunda had offered up her own life on the temple of the household
peace. Her own peace? Kamal felt that Kunda did not comprehend what
was for her own peace.
CHAPTER XII.
HIRA.
On this occasion, Haridasi _Boisnavi_ entering, sang--
"I went into the thorny forest to pluck a soiled flower--
Yes, my friend, a soiled flower;
I wore it twined about my head, I hung it in my ears--
Friends, a soiled flower."
This day Surja Mukhi was present. She sent to call Kamal to hear the
singing. Kamal came, bringing Kunda Nandini with her. The _Boisnavi_
sang--
"I would die for this blooming thorn,
I will steal its honied sweets,
I go to seek where it doth bloom,
This fresh young bud."
Kamal Mani frowned, and said: "_Boisnavi_ Didi, may ashes be thrown
on your face! Can you not sing something else?"
Haridasi asked, "Why?"
Kamal, more angrily, said: "Why? Bring a bough of the _babla_ tree,
and show her how pleasant it is to be pierced by thorns.
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