Roy! sing us one
of thy tales, that the Princess may hear thee."
And Roy, knowing his part, sang as he had never sung before. "I will
sing of how the palm squirrels helped the Great Ram to find his wife,
Sita the Peerless, whom the wicked Giant Ravana had carried off. We sing
it to the squirrels when we feed them in our country. Perhaps Her
Highness does not know what a palm squirrel is. It is tiny, tiny, no
bigger than a rat, but it has a bushy tail and four dark stripes like
finger marks down its goldy-coloured back. And it never does anything
but play, is never anything but happy; and this is why":
Then he smote the strings of the _vina_ till they thrilled again, and
began, his high voice warbling and carolling like a summer bird.
"Pretty! Pretty! Pretty! are you there, my sweet,
In your leafy seat, where the branches meet?
Wasting all the sunny hours
Pulling down the mango flowers
With your dainty feet.
"Pretty, prettiest thing yawning as you lie
Watching with glad eye, busy life go by.
Not the tiniest sense of duty
In your careless days, my beauty,
'Neath the cloudless sky.
"Happiest, merriest ways,
Knowing no gainsays, so the story says,
Since the Great Ram loved and blessed you,
With his care-worn hand caressed you,
In the olden days.
"Then, when he was seeking Sita, peerless maid,
By his foes dismayed, Ram, her lover, bade
All the beasts and birds and fishes
Leave their play to do his wishes,
Fight to give him aid.
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