sun at noon
Dost thou think , she would balance for an instant , between her lover , and the ruin of the world ? between his good opinion , and a lie ? Dost thou think , she would forfeit thy esteem , when to deceive thee would preserve it ? I tell thee , in such a dilemma , she would lie , till the very sun at noon hid his face out of shame . Know -LSB- 20 -RSB- , that long ago there lived at Wáránasí -LSB- 21 -RSB- an independent lady , of beauty so extraordinary , that swarms of lovers use to buzz continually about her like great black bees about the mango blossom in the spring . But independent though she was , she was so fastidious , that none of her innumerable lovers ever touched her heart even for a moment . And hence she lived like a lamp at midnight surrounded by the corpses of her victims , who fluttered about her lustre and perished in its flame .