Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/277

 Story of the prince and the merchant's son who saved his life * :— In the city of Pushkarávatí there was a king named Gúdhasena, and to him there was born one son. That prince was overbearing, and whatever he did, right or wrong, his father acquiesced in, because he was an only son. And once upon a time, as he was roaming about in a garden, he saw the son of a merchant, named Brahmadatta, who resembled himseIf in wealth and beauty. And the moment he saw him, he selected him for his special friend, and those two, the prince and the merchant's son, immediately became like one another in all things. † And soon they were not able to live without seeing one another, for intimacy in a former birth, quickly knits friendship. The prince never tasted food that was not first prepared for that merchant's son.

Once on a time the prince set out for Ahichchhatra in order to be married, having first decided on his friend's marriage. And, as he was journeying with his troops, in the society of that friend, mounted on an elephant, he reached the bank of the Ikshuvatí, and encamped there. There he had a wine-party, when the moon arose; and after he had gone to bed, he began to tell a story at the solicitation of his nurse. When he had begun his story, being tired and intoxicated he was overcome by sleep, and his nurse also, but the merchant's son kept awake out of love for him. And when the others were asleep, the merchant's son, who was awake, heard in the air what seemed to be the voices of women engaged in conversation. The first said— " This wretch has gone to sleep without telling his tale, therefore I pronounce this curse on him. To-morrow morning he shall see a necklace, and if he take hold of it, it shall cling to his neck, and that moment cause his death." Then the first voice ceased, and the second went on: " And if he escape that peril, he shall see a mango-tree, and if he eat the fruit of