Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/225

 ducted Śiva to his house. And when he had introduced there that inauspicious guest named Śiva,* he told Mádhava what he had done and was applauded by him. And immediately he gave Śiva his daughter, who had been carefully brought up, and in giving her he seemed to be giving a his own prosperity lost by his folly. And on the third day after his man he took him to Mádhava who was pretending to be ill, to receive his present. And Mádhava rose up and fell at his feet and said what was quite true, " I adore thee whose asceticism is incomprehensible. "† " And in accordance with the prescribed form he bestowed on Śiva that box of ornaments made of many sham jewels, which was brought from the chaplain's treasury. Śiva for his part, after receiving it, gave it into the hand of the chaplain, saying, 'I know nothing about this, but you do." And that priest immediately took it, saying, " I undertook to do this long ago, why should you trouble yourself about it ?" Then Śiva gave them his blessing, and went to his wife's private apartments, and the chaplain took the box and put it in his strong room. Mádhava for his part gradually desisted from feigning sickness, affecting to feel better the next day, and said that his disease had been cured by virtue of his great gift. And he praised the chaplain when he came near, saying to him, " It was by your aiding me in an act of faith that I tided over this calamity." And he openly struck up a friendship with Śiva, asserting that it was due to the might of Śiva's holiness that his life had been saved. Śiva, for his part, after some days said to the chaplain: " How long am I to feast in your house in this style? Why do you not take from me those jewels for some fixed sum of money? If they are valuable, give me a fair price for them." "When the priest heard that, thinking that the jewels were of incalculable value, he consented, and gave to Śiva as purchase-money his whole living. And he made Śiva sign a receipt for the sum with his own hand, and he himself too signed a receipt for the jewels, thinking that that treasure far exceeded his own wealth in value. And they separated, taking one another's receipts, and the chaplain lived in one place, while Śiva kept house in another. And then Śiva and Mádhava dwelt together and remained there leading a very pleasant life consuming the chaplain's wealth. And as time went on, that chaplain, being in need of cash, went to the town to sell one of the ornaments in the bazar.

Then the merchants, who were connoisseurs in jewels, said after examining it, " Ha! the man who made these sham jewels was a clever fellow, whoever he was. For this ornament is composed of pieces of glass and quartz coloured with various colours and fastened together with brass, and there are no gems or gold in it." When the chaplain heard that,