I shall fetch some fire and light these faggots around. Do
thou dispel all anxiety. I will do all (this) if thou darest not go, for
I find thee unwell. Nor wilt thou be able to discover the way through
this forest enveloped in darkness. Tomorrow when the woods become
visible, we will go hence, if thou please! If, O sinless one, it is thy
wish, we shall pass this night even here!" At these words of hers,
Satyavan replied, "The pain in my head is off; and I feel well in my
limbs. With thy favour I wish to behold my father and mother. Never
before did I return to the hermitage after the proper time had passed
away. Even before it is twilight my mother confineth me within the
asylum. Even when I come out during the day, my parents become anxious
on my account, and my father searcheth for me, together with all the
inhabitants of the sylvan asylums. Before this, moved by deep grief, my
father and mother had rebuked me many times and often, saying,--_Thou
comest having tarried long_! I am thinking of the pass they have today
come to on my account, for, surely, great grief will be theirs when they
miss me. One night before this, the old couple, who love me dearly, wept
from deep sorrow and said into me, 'Deprived of thee, O son, we cannot
live for even a moment. As long as thou livest, so long, surely, we also
will live. Thou art the crutch of these blind ones; on thee doth
perpetuity of our race depend. On thee also depend our funeral cake, our
fame and our descendants!' My mother is old, and my father also is so.
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