ASNEHA
THE
Legend of the Opal
Illustrations and Text by
CARLO DE FORNARO
Published by MARCUS & CO.
Jewelers
544 Fifth Avenue
New York
Copyright, 1902, by
Carlo de Fornaro
Utter a powerful song to Indra, which willbe as sweet as butter and honey.
—Rig Veda.
Once upon a time, in theland of Kasi, there liveda poor musician, whowas also a poet and amost imaginative storyteller.He had lost hisflute in a village brawl,and being too poor to buy a new instrument hadto content himself in relating wonderful legendsconcerning the gods, and stirring tales about thejungle people.
One morning, feeling the necessity of communingwith his spirit in quiet and solitude, he wanderedinto the jungle under a favorite cluster ofbamboos.
His soaring imagination was checked in its flightby a song of so extraordinary a tune, so novel andstrange to his ears that he fancied he had beencarried up by unknown favor to Indra’s heaven.The heavenly singer was only a small bird withfeathers like old gold, two eyes green as emeralds,and the beak and legs of the same color.
And the Golden Bird spoke to him: “Asneha!thou hast acquired great merit by thy devotion tomatters spiritual, by thy kindness to animals andto human beings. Therefore, if thou wilt cut areed within these woods they shall repeat my songsto thee.
“But have a care, thou must remain pure andnot suffer to be deluded by the love of woman,and thou shalt conquer the world.”
He cut a flute in haste and pressed his lips to itto utter a song from it. And verily the musicwhich flowed from its opening was divine and[8]golden beyond description. Sometimes it sangsoftly as the moonbeam plays on a silent lake ofemerald, dancing and trembling with so gentle arhythm that only the soul of a poet could hear itsmelody; at other times it swelled its notes to thepower of the roaring Maruts smiting against theunmovable Himalayas, as the wrath of Kali withthe shiver of the cold snows from the eternalsummits. Again, its melody dripped sweetly asthe whitest of honey with the scent of a thousandflow