Page:Tales from the Indian Epics.djvu/90

84 It was not I, but he, who forsook you in the woods. He possessed me and, while he did so, I was his slave. But Karkotaka the snake king bit him and so tormented him with his poison that he left me. But you, my Queen, what have you done? You have proclaimed by your messengers that you will hold a second Swayamwara and marry a second husband. For this reason King Rituparna bade me drive him in his chariot to Vidarbha".

Damayanti grew frightened, for Nala spoke to her with frowning brows and in angry tones. "O King my husband," she said, "how could you think that I would really choose a second husband while you were alive—you whom I had preferred to an Immortal? It was nothing but a device to bring you to Vidarbha, for the Brahman, Parnada, had told me that you were in Rituparna's service. So do not be angry with me. For touching your feet I swear to you that never even in thought have I been anything but true to you." But Nala's face did not grow softer. Then Damayanti cried aloud, "O all-seeing Wind that surrounds the earth, take away my life if I have sinned against my Lord! O Sun that daily crosses the sky, take away my life, if I have sinned against my Lord! O Moon that enters the hearts of all living things, take away my life, if I have sinned against my Lord!" And from the heavens the wind god answered, "King Nala, it is the truth that she speaks; she has done no evil against you. When she proclaimed at King Rituparna's court that she would hold a Swayamwara, she only wished to see you again. Do not doubt her conduct, but be united with her once more." And as the wind god spoke, the other gods showered down flowers upon the pair.

Then Nala's doubts vanished. He remembered the