Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/156

 hear the story of Mrigánkadatta, if you have not already heard it. When the hermit had said this, he bathed and took the prince to his hermitage, and quickly performed his daily prayers. And Piśangajața entertained him there with fruits, and ate fruits himself, and then he began to tell him this tale of Mrigánkadatta. Story of Mrigánkadatta.* :— There is a city of the name of Ayodhyá famous in the three worlds. In it there lived in old time a king named Amaradatta. He was of resplendent brightness, and he had a wife named Surataprabhá, who was as closely knit to him as the oblation to the fire. † By her there was born to him a son named Mrigánkadatta, who was adored for his ten million virtues, as his bow was bent by the string reaching the notches. ‡

And that young prince had ten ministers of his own, Prachandasakti and Sthúlabáhu, and Vikramakeśarin, Dridhamushti, and Meghabala and Bhímaparákrama, and Vimalabuddhi, and Vyághrasena and Gunákara, and the tenth Vichitrakatha. They were all of good birth, young, brave, and wise, and devoted to their master's interests. And Mrigánkadatta led a happy life with them in bis father's house, but he did not obtain a suitable wife. And one day his minister Bhímaparákrama said to him in secret,— " Hear, prince, what happened to me in the night. I went to sleep last night on the roof of the palace, and I saw in a dream a lion, with claws terrible as the thunderbolt, rushing upon me. I rose up, sword in hand, and then the lion began to flee, and I pursued him at my utmost speed. He crossed a river, and stuck out his long tongue § at me, and I cut it off with my sword. And I made use of it to cross that river, for it was as broad as abridge. And thereupon the lion became a deformed giant. I asked him who he was and the giant said, ' I am a Vetála, and I am delighted with your courage, my brave fellow.' Then I said to him, ' If this is the case, then tell me who is to be the wife of my master Mrigánkadatta.' When I said this to the Vetála, he answered,— ' There is in Ujjayiní a king named Karmasena. He has a daughter, who in beauty surpasses the Apsarases, being, as it were, the receptacle of the Creator's handiwork in the form of loveliness. Her name is Śaśánkavatí, and she shall be his wife, and by gaining her, he shall become king of the whole earth.' When the Vetála