Buddhacarita by Ven Asvaghosa - Ancient Buddhist Texts

Buddha-carita, or Life of Buddha - 100
38. ‘Even that horse Kaṁthaka without doubt desired my utter ruin;
for he bore away from hence my treasure when all were sound asleep
in the night, – like one who steals jewels.
39. ‘When he was able to bear even the onsets of arrows, and still
more the strokes of whips, – how then for fear of the fall of a whip,
could he go carrying with him my prosperity and my heart together
40. ‘The base creature now neighs loudly, filling the king’s palace with
the sound; but when he carried away my beloved, then this vilest of
horses was dumb.
41. ‘If he had neighed and so woke up the people, or had even made a
noise with his hoofs on the ground, or had made the loudest sound he
could with his jaws, my grief would not have been so great.’
42. Having thus heard the queen’s words, their syllables choked with
tears and full of lament, slowly Chaṁdaka uttered this answer, with
his face bent down, his voice low with tears, and his hands clasped in
supplication:
43. ‘Surely, O queen, thou wilt not blame Kaṁthaka nor wilt thou
show thy anger against me, know that we two are entirely guiltless, –
that god amongst men, O queen, is gone away like a god.
44. ‘I indeed, though I well knew the king’s command, as though
dragged by force by some divine powers, brought quickly to him this
swift steed, and followed him on the road unwearied.