Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/601

 of her own accord elected to marry him. And all the kings, being jealous, have gathered themselves together and formed the intention of killing Vikramaśakti, and the dependent kings,* and of carrying off that maiden. So, do you go, and make known that their intention to Vikramaśakti, in order that ho may be on his guard and ready to repel their attack. And I will exert myself to enable king Vikrantáditya to conquer those enemies and gain the victory. " For this reason I brought you here by my own deluding power, in order that you might tell all this to king Vikramaśakti and the dependent monarchs; and I will send to your sovereign such a present as shall to a certain small extent be a requital for the benefit that he conferred on me."

"While she was saying this, the two maidens, that we had seen in the sea, came there with the deer; one had a body white as the moon, the other was dark as a priyangu; so they seemed like Ganga and Yamuná returned from worshipping the ocean, the monarch of rivers. When they had sat down, I put this question to the Yakshí, " Goddess, who are these maidens, and what is the meaning of this golden deer ?" When the Yakshiní heard this, king, she said to me, " Anangadeva, if you feel any curiosity about the matter, listen, I will tell you."

Story of Ghanța and Nighanța and the two maidens.:—Long ago there came to impede Prajápati, in his creation of creatures, two terrible Dánavas, named Ghanța and Nighanța, invincible even by gods. And the Creator, being desirous of destroying them, created these two maidens, the splendour of whose measureless beauty seemed capable of maddening the world. And those two mighty Asuras, when they saw these two exceedingly wonderful maidens, tried to carry them off; and fighting with one another, they both of them met their death. †

Then Brahmá bestowed these maidens on Kuvera, saying, " You must give these girls to some suitable husband;" and Kuvera made them over to my husband, who is his younger brother ; and in the same way my husband passed these fair ones ‡ on to me; and I have thought of king Vikramáditya as a husband for them, for, as he is an incarnation of a god, he is a fit person for them to marry.

" Such are the facts with regard to these maidens, now hear the history of the deer."