She too straightway vanished from sight. But Kosiya holding converse with Honour, as she stood on the north side, repeated these two stanzas:

Like Dawn that gilds the skirts of hateful Night,
So doth thy beauty burst upon my sight;
[404] O heavenly nymph in form so passing fair,
Tell me thy name and who thou art declare.

Like to a tender plant whose roots are fed
On soil o'er which devouring flames have spread,
Its wealth of scarlet leaves by summer breezes shed,
Why dost thou look at me with bashful air,
Fain as it were to speak, yet standing silent there?

Then she uttered this stanza:

Honour am I, man's cherished friend,
Who aid to righteous mortals lend;
Lo here am I this food to claim,
Yet scarcely dare my wish to frame;
To woman suing counts as shame.

On hearing this the ascetic repeated two stanzas:

No need for thee to beg and sue,
Receive what is thy right and due:
I grant the boon thou durst not crave,
Accept the food thou fain wouldst have.

[405] Deign, nymph, all golden clad, I pray,
To feast within my cell this day:
First honouring thee with dainties rare,
I too this heavenly food would share.

Then follow some stanzas inspired by divine wisdom:

Thus Honour, glorious nymph, at his behest
In Kosiya's home was welcomed as a guest:
Fruits and perennial streams therein abound,
And thronging saints are in its precincts found.

Here flowering shrubs in a dense mass we see,
The mango, piyal, bread-fruit, Judas-tree;
Here sal and bright rose-apple deck the glade,
There fig and banyan cast their holy shade.

Here many a flower with fragrance scents the wind,
Here peas and beans, panic and rice we find:
Bananas everywhere rich clusters show,
And bamboo reeds in thickest tangle grow.

On the north side, hemmed in by smooth and level bank,
And fed by purest streams, behold a sacred tank.

There happy fish in peace disport themselves at will,
And 'midst abundant food enjoy to take their fill.

[406] There happy birds in peace enjoy abundant fare,
Swans, herons, ospreys too, peacocks with plumage rare,
Cuckoos and pheasants eke with ruddy geese are there.

Hither do lions, tigers, boars resort their thirst to slake.
This bears, hyenas, wolves are wont their drinking-place to make.

The buffalo, rhinoceros and gayal too are here,
With antelope, elk, herds of swine, and red and other deer,
And cats with ears like to a hare's in numbers vast appear.

The mountain slopes are gaily pranked with flowers of varied shade
And echo to the song of birds that haunt each forest glade.

Thus did the Blessed One sing the praises of Kosiya's hermitage. And now to show forth the manner of the goddess Honour's entrance therein he said: