Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/590

 " Why should I not call to the king for aid? He may be roaming about in the darkness somewhere near." When I had said this to myself, I called aloud for his help in the following words, " Deliver me, noble king Vikramáditya ! See, protecting talisman of the world, this kápálika is bent on outraging by force, in your realm, me a chaste matron, the Yakshí Madanamanjarí by name, the daughter of Dundubhi, and the wife of Manibhadra the younger brother of Kuvera."

No sooner had I finished this plaintive appeal, than I saw that king coming towards me, sword in hand ; he seemed to be all resplendent with brightness of valour, and he said to me, " My good lady, do not fear; be at ease; I will deliver you from that kápálika, fair one. For who is able to work such unrighteousness in my realm? When he had said this, be summoned a Vetála, named Agniśikha. And he, when summoned, came, tall, with flaming eyes, with upstanding hair; and said to the king, "Tell me what I am to do." Then the king said, " Kill and eat this wicked kápálika, who is trying to carry off his neighbour's wife." Then that Vetála Agniśikha entered the corpse that was in the circle of adoration, and rose up, and rushed forward, stretching out his arms and mouth. And when the kápálika, who had come back from rinsing his mouth, was preparing to fly, he seized him from behind by the legs; and he whirled him round in the air and then dashed him down with great force on the earth, and so at one blow crushed his body and his aspirations.

When the demons saw the kápálika slain, they were all eager for flesh, and a fierce Vetála, named Yamaśikha, came there. As soon as he came, he seized the body of the kápálika; then the first Vetála Agniśikha said to him, ' Hear, villain ! I have killed this kápálika by the order of king Vikramáditya; pray what have you to do with him?" When Yamaśikha heard that, he said to him, " Then tell me, what kind of power has that king?" Then Agniśikha said, " If you do not know the nature of his power, listen, I will tell you."

Story of the gambler Dágineya, who was too cunning for the Vetála Agniśikha, and of Agniśikha's submission to king Vikrámaditya.:-There once lived in this city a very resolute gambler of the name of Dágineya. Once on a time some gamblers, by fraudulent play, won from him all he possessed, and then bound him in order to obtain from him the borrowed money which he had lost in addition. And as he had nothing, they beat him with sticks and other instruments of torture,* but he made himself like a stone, and seemed as rigid as a corpse. Then all