Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/162

 perished in the same way* : and when through fear of the same fate other kit'gs did not wish to marry her, the king gave this order to his general— ' You must bring a man in turn from every single house in this country, so that one shall be supplied every day, and he must be a Bráhman, or a Kshatriya. And after you have brought the man, you must cause him to enter by night into the apartment of my daughter; let us see how many will perish in this way, and how long it will go on. Whoever escapes shall afterwards become her husband; for it is impossible to bar the course of fate, whose dispensations are mysterious.' The general, having received this order from the king, brings a man every day turn about from every house in this city, and in this way hundreds of men have met their death in the apartment of the princess. Now I, whose merits in a former life must have been deficient, have one son here; his turn has to-day arrived to go to the palace to meet his death; and I being deprived of him must to-morrow enter the fire. Therefore, while I am still alive, I give to you, a worthy object, all my house with my own hand, in order that my lot may not again be unfortunate in my next birth." When she had said this, the resolute Vidúshaka answered; " If this is the whole matter, do not be despondent, mother, I will go there to-day, let your only son live. And do not feel any commiseration with regard to me, so as to say to yourself— ' Why should I be the cause of this man's death?'— for owing to the magical power which I possess I run no risk by going there." When Vidúshaka had said this, that Bráhman woman said to him, " Then you must be some god come here as a reward for my virtue, so cause me, my son, to recover life, and yourself to gain felicity." When she had expressed her approval of his project in these words, he went in the evening to the apartment of the princess, together with a servant appointed by the general to conduct him. There he beheld the princess Hushed with the pride of youth, like a creeper weighed down with the burden of its abundant flowers that had not yet been gathered. Accordingly, when night came, the princess went to her bed, and Vidúshaka remained awake in her apartment, holding in his hand the sword of the Fire-god, which came to him with a thought, saying to himself, " I will find out who it is that slays men here." And when people were all asleep, he saw a terrible Rákshasa coming from the side of the apartment where the entrance was, having first opened the door; and the Rákshasas standing at the entrance stretched forward into the room an arm. which had been the swift wand of Death to hundreds of men. Hut Vidúshaka in wrath springing forward, cut off suddenly the arm of the Rákshasa with one stroke of his sword. † And the Rákshasa immediately fled away through