Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/324

 When the tender fair one, who regretted her husband, who had left her as soon as the marriage had taken place, heard this, she said to her supposed rival, in whom she had come to confide by living with her, " Thin story makes my body tremble and my heart, as it were, sink; so tell me friend, what is the meaning of this." When the Bráhman, disguised in female form, heard this, he went on to say, " My friend, these are violent symptoms of love; I have felt them myself, I will not conceal it from you." When she said this, Mrigánkavatí went on slowly to say, " Friend, I love you as my life, so why should I not say what I think it is time to reveal? Could any one by any artifice be introduced into this palace?" When the pupil of that master-rogue heard this, he took her meaning and said to her, " If this is the state of affairs, then I have something to tell you. I have a boon from Vishnu, by which I can at pleasure become a man during the night, so I will now become one for your sake. So he took the globule out of his mouth, and displayed himself to her as a handsome man in the prime of youth. And so the Bráhman lived with the wife of the minister's son, becoming a woman in the day, and resuming his male form at night. But bearing in a few days that the son of the minister was on the point of returning, he took the precaution of eloping with her from that house during the night.

At this point in the story, it happened that his teacher, Múladeva, heard all the circumstances; so he again assumed the form of an old Bráhman, and accompanied by his friend Śaśi, who had assumed the form of a young Brahman, he went and respectfully said to king Yaśahketu, " I have brought back my son; so give me my daughter-in-law." Then the king, who was afraid of being cursed, deliberated and said to him;" Bráhman, I do not know where your daughter-in-law has gone, so forgive me; as I am in fault, I will give you my own daughter for your son." When the king had said this to that prince of rogues, disguised in the form of an old Bráhman, who asserted his false claim with the sternness of assumed anger, he gave his daughter with all due ceremonies to his friend Śaśin, who pretended to be the supposed Bráhman's son. Then Múladeva took the bride and bridegroom, who had been thus united, off to bis own home, without showing any desire for the king's wealth. And there Manahsvámin met them, and a fierce dispute took place between him and Śaśin in the presence of that Múladeva. Manahisvámin said, " This Śaśiprabhá should be given to me, for long ago, when she was a maiden, I married her by the favour of the master." Śaśin said, " You fool, what have you to do with her? she is my wife, for her father bestowed her on me in the presence of the fire." So they went on wrangling about the princess, whom they had got hold off by means of magic, and their dispute was never decided. So tell me, king, to which of the two