Buddhacarita by Ven Asvaghosa - Ancient Buddhist Texts

Buddha-carita, or Life of Buddha - 96
13. ‘This city bereft of him is a forest, and that forest which possesses
him is a city; the city without him has no charms for us, like heaven
without the lord of the Maruts, when V
14. Next the women crowded to the rows of windows, crying to one
another, ‘The prince has returned;’ but having heard that his horse had
an empty back, they closed the windows again and wailed aloud.
15. But the king, having undertaken religious observances for the
recovery of his son, with his mind distressed by the vow and the
sorrow, was muttering prayers in the temple, and performing such
rites as suited the occasion.
16. Then with his eyes filled with tears, – taking the horse, his whole
soul fixed on the horse, – overcome with grief he entered the palace
as if his master had been killed by an enemy.
17. And entering the royal stable, looking about with his eyes full of
tears, Kaṁthaka uttered a loud sound, as if he were uttering his woe
to the people.
18. Then the birds that fed in the middle of the house, and the
carefully cherished horses that were tied near by, re-echoed the sound
of that horse, thinking that it might be the return of the prince.
19. And the people, deceived by an excessive joy, who were in the
neighbourhood of the king’s inner apartments, thought in their hearts,