Page:Tales from the Indian Epics.djvu/88

82 Damayanti's husband King Nala has fled." "No," said King Nala, "I have not. Nala himself alone knows where Nala is hiding." Then Keshini, seeing that his eyes fell before hers, whispered softly the words which the Brahman, Parnada, had said in the audience chamber of King Rituparna. "O King, O Gambler, O Beloved, your devoted wife whom you forsook asleep in the forest still loves you and still awaits you." And King Nala whispered back, "A wife, even though forsaken by her husband, should forgive him, especially if his mind is clouded by calamity." When he had spoken thus King Nala burst into tears. And Keshini, slipping away from him, hastened back to her mistress and told her what had happened.

Then Damayanti, still uncertain whether Vahuka was her husband, bade Keshini watch him closely and learn whether he shewed any signs of royal origin; and for several days Keshini watched Vahuka closely. Then going to Damayanti she said, "Vahuka must indeed be a king, for he masters even the elements themselves. If he comes to a door too small for him to pass through erect, he does not stoop. But the door, to do him honour, grows higher. If he wants water, he merely looks at his water vessels and they instantly fill with water. If he wants fire he holds up grass in the sun's rays and instantly it is ablaze. Once I saw him take flowers in his hand and crush them. But the flowers instead of fading grew more beautiful and had a richer perfume than before." But Damayanti was not yet satisfied. "O Keshini," she said, "go to the kitchen and bring me some of the food which Vahuka has cooked for King Rituparna"; and Keshini did so. And Damayanti, for whom Nala had often cooked