Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/631

 had seen in the temple built by Viśvakarman, and he gave this order to the warder, " Let an ambassador be sent to Kalingasena to demand from him that maiden whose likeness I saw carved on the pillar." When the warder received this command from the king, he brought before him an ambassador named Suvigraha, and sent him off with a message.

So the ambassador went to the country of Kalinga, and when he had seen the king Kalingasena, he delivered to him the message with which he had been entrusted, which was as follows, " King, the glorious sovereign Vikramáditya sends you this command, ' You know that every jewel on the earth comes to me as my due; and you have a pearl of a daughter, so hand her over to me, and then by my favour you shall enjoy in your own realm an unopposed sway.' " When the king of Kalinga heard this, he was very angry, and he said, "Who is this king Vikramáditya? Does he presume to give me orders and ask for my daughter as a tribute? Blinded with pride he shall be cast down." When the ambassador heard this from Kalingasena, he said to him, " How can you, being a servant, dare to set yourself up against your master? You do not know your place. What, madman, do you wish to be shrivelled like a moth in the fire of his wrath? "

When the ambassador had said this, he returned and communicated to king Vikramáditya that speech of Kalingasena's. Then king Vishamaśila, being angry, marched out with his forces to attack the king of Kalinga, and the Vetála Bhutáketu went with him. As he marched along, the quarters, re-echoing the roar of his army, seemed to say to the king of Kalinga, " Surrender the maiden quickly," and so he reached that country. When king Vikramáditya saw the king of Kalinga ready for battle, he surrounded him with his forces; but then he thought in his mind, " I shall never be happy without this king's daughter; and yet how can I kill my own father-in-law? Suppose I have recourse to some stratagem."

When the king had gone through these reflections, he went with the Vetála, and by his supernatural power entered the bedchamber of the king of Kalinga at night, when he was asleep, without being seen. Then the Vetála woke up the king, and when he was terrified, said to him laughing, " What ! do you dare to sleep, when you are at war with king Vikramáditya? " Then the king of Kalinga rose up, and seeing the monarch, who had thus shown his daring, standing with a terrible Vetála at his side, and recognising him, bowed trembling at his feet, and said, " King, I now acknowledge your supremacy; tell me what I am to do." And the king answered him, " If you wish to have me as your overlord, give me your daughter Kalingasena." Then the king of Kalinga agreed, and promised to give him his daughter, and so the monarch returned successful to his camp.