Thou knowest; make us know, why hath she failed?"
Then Yudhi-sthira answered: "Yea, one thing.
She loved our brothers better than all else,--
Better than Heaven: that was her tender sin,
Fault of a faultless soul: she pays for that."
So spake the monarch, turning not his eyes,
Though Draupadi lay dead,--striding straight on
For Meru, heart-full of the things of Heaven,
Perfect and firm. But yet a little space
And Sahadev fell down; which Bhima seeing,
Cried once again: "O King, great Madri's son
Stumbles and sinks. Why hath he sunk?--so true,
So brave and steadfast, and so free from pride!"
"He was not free," with countenance still fixed,
Quoth Yudhi-sthira; "he was true and fast
And wise; yet wisdom made him proud; he hid
One little hurt of soul, but now it kills."
So saying, he strode on, Kunti's strong son,
And Bhima; and Arjuna followed him,
And Nakalu and the hound; leaving behind
Sahadev in the sands. But Nakalu,
Weakened and grieved to see Sahadev fall--
His dear-loved brother--lagged and stayed; and then
Prone on his face he fell, that noble face
Which had no match for beauty in the land,--
Glorious and godlike Nakalu! Then sighed
Bhima anew: "Brother and Lord! the man
Who never erred from virtue, never broke
Our fellowship, and never in the world
Was matched for goodly perfectness of form
Or gracious feature,--Nakalu has fallen!"
But Yudhi-sthira, holding fixed his eyes,--
That changeless, faithful, all-wise king,--replied:
"Yea, but he erred! The god-like form he wore
Beguiled him to believe none like to him,
And he alone desirable, and things
Unlovely, to be slighted.
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