Page:Tales from the Indian Epics.djvu/71

Rh terrified at the threat, refused to give Nala food. So he and Damayanti lay outside the city eating only such herbs and roots as Nala could gather. One day, as he gathered them, he saw at his feet a flock of birds. In size they seemed wild geese but their wings were of pure gold. The king tore the cloth off his loins, hoping to catch them. But directly the cloth fell on their backs they rose into the sky, taking it with them. And as they flew, one of them said mockingly, "My lord the King, we are the dice which robbed you of your wealth and your kingdom. And we could not be happy until we had taken from you the single cloth which you still possessed. Now that you are stripped we are at rest."

The king went back to Damayanti and said in his grief, "O Queen, it is useless any longer to stay with one who is the victim of ill fortune. The dice in the guise of birds have spoiled me of my loin cloth, my sole possession. Do you, therefore, go back to Vidarbha and live with King Bhima and leave me to suffer alone." But the queen smiled bravely at him. "Nay, O King," she said, "it is because you have fallen on evil days that I cannot leave you. For, in times of trouble, there is no such remedy as a wife's love. So come with me to Vidarbha. And my father will pay you such honour that you will soon cease to grieve over the loss of your kingdom."

But King Nala answered sadly "Nay, Damayanti, I cannot go to Vidarbha with you. Your father King Bhima would, I know, receive me with all honour. And in old days I loved to go to his kingdom and lodge in his palaces. But now that I am a beggar the sight of his court and its splendour would only remind me of my own lost glory." Damayanti tried in various ways