૧૪૦ વાર્તાનું શાસ્ત્ર-૧ Lamenting his bride, The cock, bald and bare, Sobs loud in despair; The pipal tree grieves By shedding its leaves; The buffalo mourns By casting her Horns The stream weeping fast, Grows briny at last; The cuckoo with sighs Blinds one of its eyes !" "Bless my heart !" cries Bhagtu, "But that is simply the most heart-rendering tale I ever heard in my life! I must really mourn likewise !" Whereupon he wept, and wailed, and beat his breast until he went completely out of his mind; and when the Queen's maidservant came to buy of him, he gave her pepper instead of turmeric, onion instead of garlic and wheat insetted of pulse. "Dear me, friend Bhagtu !" quote the maid- servant, "your wits are wool-gathering! What's the matter?" "don't please don't !" cried Bhagtu, "I wish you wouldn't ask me, for I am trying to forget all about it. It is too dreadful-too, too terrible !" At last, however, yielding to the maid's entreaties, he replied, with many sobs and tears :-
