Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/616

 The king, astonished, asked him who he was, and then there came there a wild elephant, resembling a moving mountain. When the king saw that wild elephant charging down on him, he smote it in a vital place and slew it with a single arrow. The Vetála tore open its belly also, and there issued from it a man of heavenly appearance, and a woman beautiful in all her limbs. And when the king was about to question the man, who issued from the boar, he said to him, " Listen, king; I am going to tell you my history. "We two, king, are two sons of gods:* this one's name is Bhadra, and I am Śubha. As we were roaming about we observed the hermit Kanva engaged in meditation. We assumed in sport the forms of an elephant and a boar, and having done so, we terrified the great sage in our reckless folly, and he pronounced on us this curse, ' Become in this forest an elephant and boar such as you are now j but when you shall be killed by king Vikramáditya, you shall be released from the curse.' So we became an elephant and a boar by the curse of the hermit, and we have to-day been set free by you; as for this woman, lot her tell her own story. But touch this boar on the neck and this elephant on the back; and they will become for you celestial sword and shield." When he had said this, he disappeared with his companion, and the boar and elephant, touched by the hand of the king, became for him a sword and a shield. Then the woman, being questioned about her history, spoke as follows: " I am the wife of a great merchant in Ujjayiní named Dhanadatta. One night, as I was sleeping on the top of a palace, this elephant came and swallowed me and brought me here; however this man was not inside the elephant, but when its belly was torn open, he came out of it with me."

When the woman said this in grief, the king said to her, " Be of good courage: I will take you to your husband's house: go and journey along in security with my harem." When he had said this, he made the Vetála take her and hand her over to the queen Madanasundarí, who was travelling by a different path.

Then, the Vetála having returned, we suddenly saw there in the wood two princesses, with a numerous and splendid retinue. And the king sent me and summoned their chamberlains, and they, when asked whence the two maidens came, told the following story;

Story of the two princess.:— There is a dvípa named Kațáha, the home of all felicities. In it there is a king rightly named Gunasá gara. † He had born to him by his principal queen a daughter named Gunavatí, who by her beauty produced