Page:Tales from the Indian Epics.djvu/62

56 over it until it saw him alone. Then settling at his feet it told him what it had said to Daraayanti and what the princess's reply had been.

But although the swan vanished from Damayanti's sight her love for Nala grew until she could not rest nor even sit at ease. Her thoughts urged her always to rise and hurry towards Nala's side and she would spring from her couch only to remember that Nala lived ever so many leagues away. Then she would sink back with a sigh only to rise again a few moments later. In a day or two King Bhima noticed that Damayanti had grown thin, that her cheeks were pale, and that her eyes had lost their lustre. At first he feared for his daughter's health. Then he thought to himself, "She is now a grown woman. Let us bestir ourselves about her marriage." And at once he set himself to prepare for Damayanti's Swayamvara. To all the courts of India he sent heralds and in each court the heralds proclaimed, "O Kings and Heroes, King Bhima of Vidarbha will hold the Swayamvara of Damayanti. Then she will choose the bravest and fairest youth in India to be her husband. Come therefore and win, if you may, the hand of the loveliest princess in all the world."

The words of the heralds and the fame of Damayanti's beauty brought every prince in India to King Bhima's court; and there the king received them all courteously while they waited for the day appointed for the Swayamvara. But in their longing to excel and to win the love of the princess, they forgot the worship due by them to the great god Indra. Now it so happened that at this time the sage Narada went to Amravati, Indra's capital. The god received him with fitting honour and then asked him where the princes of India