THE RÁMÁYAN OF VÁLMÍKI, VOL. III - Gujarat Knowledge Centre

Canto XLIIl. THE RAMAYAN. 195
Where dwell the gay Gandharva race.
No deer, R^ma, e'er was seea
Thus decked with gold and jewels' sheen.
' Tis magic, for the world has ne'er.
Lord of the world, shown aught so fair'
But Sit^ of the lovely smile,
A captive to the giant's wile.
Turned Lakshman's prudent speech aside
And thus with eager words replied :
My honoured lord, this deer I see
With beauty rare enraptures me.
Go, chief of mighty arm, and bring
For my delight this precious thing.
Fair creatures of the woodland roam
Untroubled near our hermit home.
The forest cow and stag are there.
The fawn, the monkey, and the bear.
Where spotted deer delight to play,
And strong and beauteous Kinnkra '
But never, as they wandered by,
Has such a beauty charmed mine eye
As this with limbs so fair and slight,
So gentle, beautiful and bright.
O s^e, how fair it is to view
With jewels of each varied hue :
Bright as the rising moon it glows.
Lighting the wood where'er it goes.
Ah me, what form and grace are there
Its limbs how fine, its hues how fair
Transcending all that words express,
It takes my soul with loveliness,
O, if thou would, to please me, strive
stray.
> A race of beings of humaa shape but with the heads of horses, like
ceutaura reversed.