Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/570

 water of ordeal,* and he made them all do in the presence of the king's ministers all that he had prescribed. And when king Trailokyamalin had in this way given security, king Merudhvaja set him free from prison with his suite. And he had brought him to his own palace with his family and his attendants, and courteously entertained him; and then he took possesion of all the jewels of the Asuras, and sent Trailokyamálin back to his kingdom. And Triilokyamálin returned to Rasátala his home, and having recovered his kingdom, rejoiced with his servants and relations. And Merudhvaja filled the earth with abundant treasures that came from Pátála, as a rain-cloud showers water. Then Trailokyamálin, the king of the Daityas, took counsel with his wife, desiring to bestow his two beautiful daughters on Merudhvaja's sons, and he invited him to his palace, with his relations, and came himself to escort him there, remembering the benefit conferred on him. So he came to king Merudhvaja, who entertained him, and then he said to him, " On a former occasion, your great joy prevented your seeing Rasátala properly. But now come and see it, while we give ourselves up to attending on you; and accept from me my two beautiful daughters for your sons."

When the Asura king had said this to Merudhvaja, the latter summoned his wile and his two sons. And he told them the speech of the Asura king, and how he proposed to give his two daughters; then his eldest son Muktáphaladhvaja said to him, " I will not marry until I have propitiated Śiva; I said this long ago; you must pardon this fault in me. When I have gone, let Malayadhvaja marry; for he will never be happy without that Pátála maiden." When the younger son beard this, he said to his elder brother, " Noble sir, while you are alive, I will never perform such a disgraceful and unrighteous act. Then king Merudhvaja earnestly exhorted Muktáphaladhvaja to marry, but he would not consent to do so; and therefore Trailokyamálin took leave of the king, who was in a state of despondency, and went back with his suite to Pátála as he had come. There he told what had taken place and said to his wife and son, " Observe how exclusively bent on humiliating us Fortune is. Those very men, to whom formerly I refused to give my daughters in marriage when they asked for them, now refuse to accept them, though I ask them to do so." When they heard it, they said, " Who can tell how this matter is in the mind of Destiny? Can Śiva's promise be falsified?"

While they were saying these things, those maidens, Trailokyaprabhá and Tribhuvanaprabhá, beard what bad happened, and took upon them