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

844 THE RjfMjiYAN. Booh 111.
And ia those waters bathe and play.
A while they revel by the flood,
Their temples stained with streams like blood.
Then wander for away dispersed,
Dark as huge clouds before they burst.
But ere they part they drink their fill
Of bright pure water from the rill,
Delightful to the touch, where meet
Scents of all flowers divinely sweet,
Then speeding from the river side
Deep in the sheltering thicket'bide.
Then bears and tigers sbalt thou view
Whose soft skins show the sapphire's hue.
And silvan deer that wander nigh
Shall harmless from thy presence fly.
High in that mountain's wooded side
Is a fair cavern deep and wide.
Yet hard to enter :
piles of rock
The portals of the cavern block.'
Fast by the eastern door a pool
Gleams with broad waters fresh and cool.
Where stores of roots and fruit abound.
And thick tress shade the grassy ground.
This mountain cave the virtu ous-souled -
Sugriva and his Vdnars hold.
And oft the mighty chieftain seeks
The summits of those toweriiig peaks.'
Thus spake Kabandha high in air
His counsel to the royal pair.
Still on his neck that wreath he bore.
And radiance like the sun's he wore.
Their eyes the princely brothers raised
' Orastheoommehtator Tirtha says, &lapidWn!£, rock-covered, may
be the name of the cavern.