Because the world suspects a wife
Who does not share her husband’s lot,
Her kinsmen wish her to abide
With him, although he love her not.
King. You cannot mean that this young woman is my wife.
Shakuntala (sadly to herself). Oh, my heart, you feared it, and now it has come.
Sharngarava. O King,
A king, and shrink when love is done,
Turn coward’s back on truth, and flee!
King. What means this dreadful accusation?
Sharngarava (furiously).
O drunk with power! We might have known
That you were steeped in treachery.
King. A stinging rebuke!
Gautami (to Shakuntala). Forget your shame, my child. I will remove your veil. Then your husband will recognise you. (She does so.) King (observing Shakuntala. To himself).
As my heart ponders whether I could ever
Have wed this woman that has come to me
In tortured loveliness, as I endeavour
To bring it back to mind, then like a bee
That hovers round a jasmine flower at dawn,
While frosty dews of morning still o’erweave it,
And hesitates to sip ere they be gone,
I cannot taste the sweet, and cannot leave it.
Portress (to herself). What a virtuous king he is! Would any other man hesitate when he saw such a pearl of a woman coming of her own accord?
Sharngarava. Have you nothing to say, O King?
King. Hermit, I have taken thought. I cannot believe that this woman is my wife. She is plainly with child. How can I take her, confessing myself an adulterer?
Shakuntala (to herself). Oh, oh, oh! He even casts doubt on our marriage. The vine of my hope climbed high, but it is broken now.
Sharngarava. Not so.
You scorn the sage who rendered whole
His child befouled, and choked his grief,
Who freely gave you what you stole
And added honour to a thief!
Sharadvata. Enough, Sharngarava. Shakuntala, we have said what we were sent to say. You hear his words. Answer him.
Shakuntala (to herself). He loved me so. He is so changed. Why remind him? Ah, but I must clear my own character. Well, I will try. (Aloud.) My dear husband - (She stops.) No, he doubts my right to call him that. Your Majesty, it was pure love that opened my poor heart to you in the hermitage. Then you were kind to me and gave me your promise. Is it right for you to speak so now, and to reject me?
King (stopping his ears). Peace, peace!
A stream that eats away the bank,
Grows foul, and undermines the tree.
So you would stain your honour, while
You plunge me into misery.
Shakuntala. Very well. If you have acted so because you really fear to touch another man’s wife, I will remove your doubts with a token you gave me.
King. An excellent idea!
Shakuntala (touching her finger). Oh, oh! The ring is lost. (She looks sadly at Gautami.)
Gautami. My child, you worshipped the holy Ganges at the spot where Indra descended. The ring must have fallen there.
King. Ready wit, ready wit!
Shakuntala. Fate is too strong for me there. I will tell you something else.
King. Let me hear what you have to say.
Shakuntala. One day, in the bower of reeds, you were holding a lotus-leaf cup full of water.
King. I hear you.
Shakuntala. At that moment the fawn came up, my adopted son. Then you took pity on him and coaxed him. “Let him drink first,” you said.
But he did not know you, and he would not come to drink water from your hand. But he liked it afterwards, when I held the very same water.
Then you smiled and said: “It is true. Every one trusts his own sort. You both belong to the forest.”
King. It is just such women, selfish, sweet, false, that entice fools.
Gautami. You have no right to say that. She grew up in the pious grove. She does not know how to deceive.
King. Old hermit woman,
The female’s untaught cunning may be seen
In beasts, far more in women selfish-wise;
The cuckoo’s eggs are left to hatch and rear
By foster-parents, and away she flies.
Shakuntala (angrily). Wretch! You judge all this by your own false heart. Would any other man do what you have done? To hide behind virtue, like a yawning well covered over with grass!
King (to himself). But her anger is free from coquetry, because she has lived in the forest. See!
Her glance is straight; her eyes are flashing red;
Her speech is harsh, not drawlingly well-bred;
Her whole lip quivers, seems to shake with cold;
Her frown has straightened eyebrows arching bold.
No, she saw that I was doubtful, and her anger was feigned. Thus When I refused but now
Hard-heartedly, to know
Of love or secret vow,
Her eyes grew red; and so,
Bending her arching brow,
She fiercely snapped Love’s bow.
(Aloud.) My good girl, Dushyanta’s conduct is known to the whole kingdom, but not this action.
Shakuntala. Well, well. I had my way. I trusted a king, and put myself in his hands. He had a honey face and a heart of stone. (She covers her face with her dress and weeps.)
Sharngarava. Thus does unbridled levity burn.
Be slow to love, but yet more slow
With secret mate;
With those whose hearts we do not know,
Love turns to hate.
King. Why do you trust this girl, and accuse me of an imaginary crime?
Sharngarava (disdainfully). You have learned your wisdom upside down.
It would be monstrous to believe
A girl who never lies;
Trust those who study to deceive
And think it very wise.
King. Aha, my candid friend! Suppose I were to admit that I am such a man. What would happen if I deceived the girl?
Sharngarava. Ruin.
King. It is unthinkable that ruin should fall on Puru’s line.
Sharngarava. Why bandy words? We have fulfilled our Father’s bidding. We are ready to return.
Leave her or take her, as you will;
She is your wife;
Husbands have power for good or ill
O’er woman’s life.
Gautami, lead the way. (They start to go.)
Shakuntala. He has deceived me shamelessly. And will you leave me too? (She starts to follow.)
Gautami (turns around and sees her). Sharngarava, my son, Shakuntala is following us, lamenting piteously. What can the poor child do with a husband base enough to reject her?
Sharngarava (turns angrily). You self-willed girl! Do you dare show independence? (Shakuntala shrinks in fear.) Listen.
If you deserve such scorn and blame,
What will your father with your shame?
But if you know your vows are pure,
Obey your husband and endure.
Remain. We must go.
King. Hermit, why deceive this woman? Remember: Night-blossoms open to the moon,
Day-blossoms to the sun;
A man of honour ever strives
Another’s wife to shun.
Sharngarava. O King, suppose you had forgotten your former actions in the midst of distractions. Should you now desert your wife - you who fear to fail in virtue?