Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/150

 her fellow-wife, who seems like her friend." And others beholding those two queens, and throwing over them garlands of eyes expanded with joy so as to resemble blue lotuses, said to one another; " Surely Śiva and Vishnu have not beheld the beauty of these two, otherwise how could they regard with much respect their consorts Umá and Śrí?" In this way feasting the eyes of the population, the king of Vatsa with the queens entered his own palace, after performing auspicious ceremonies. Such as is the splendour of a lotus-pool in windy weather, or of the sea when the moon is rising, such was at that period the wonderful splendour of the king's palace. And in a moment it was filled with the presents, which the feudatories offered to procure good luck, and which foreshadowed the coming in of offerings from innumerable kings. And so the king of Vatsa, after honouring the chiefs, entered with great festivity the inner apartments, at the same time finding his way to the heart of every one present. And there he remained between the two queens, like the god of Love between Rati and Príti,* and spent the rest of the day in drinking and other enjoyments.

The next day, when he was sitting in the hall of assembly accompanied by his ministers, a certain Bráhman came and cried out at the door; " Protection for the Bráhmans ! king ! certain wicked herdsmen have cut off my son's foot in the forest without any reason." When he heard that, the king immediately had two or three herdsmen seized and brought before him, and proceeded to question them. Then they gave the following answer; "O king, being herdsmen we roam in the wilderness, and there we have among us a herdsman named Devasena, and he sits in a certain place in the forest on a stone seat, and says to us 'I am your king' and gives us orders. And not a man among us disobeys his orders. Thus, O king, that herdsman rules supreme in the wood. Now to-day the son of this Bráhman came that way, and did not do obeisance to the herdsman king, and when we by the order of the king said to him— 'Depart not without doing thy reverence'— the young fellow pushed us aside, and went off laughing in spite of the admonition. Then the herdsman king commanded us to punish the contumacious boy by cutting off his foot. So we, king, ran after him, and cut off his foot; what man of our humble degree is able to disobey the command of a ruler?" When the herdsmen had made this representation to the king, the wise Yaugandharáyana, after thinking it over, said to him in private; " Certainly that place must contain treasure, on the strength of which a mere herdsman has such influence.† So let us