Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/297

 wealth consisting of gold and jewels was carried off by a thief from the palace of the king. As the thief was not known, the king quickly summoned Hariśarman on account of his reputation for supernatural knowledge. And he, when summoned, tried to gain time, and said " I will tell you to-morrow," and then he was placed in a chamber by the king, and carefully guarded. And he was despondent about his pretended knowledge.* Now in that palace there was a maid named Jihvá, † who, with the assistance of her brother had carried off that wealth from the interior of the palace: she, being alarmed at Hariśarman's knowledge, went at night and applied her ear to the door of that chamber in order to find out what he was about. And Hariśarman, who was alone inside, was at that very moment blaming his own tongue, that had made a vain assumption of knowledge. He said " O Tongue, what is this that you have done, through desire of enjoyment? Ill-conducted one, endure now punishment in this place." When Jihvá heard this, she thought in her terror, that she had been discovered by this wise man, and by an artifice she managed to get in where he was, and falling at his feet, she said to that supposed sage; " Bráhman, here I am, that Jihvá whom you have discovered to be the thief of the wealth, and after I took it, I buried it in the earth in a garden behind the palace, under a pomegranate tree. So spare me, and receive the small quantity of gold which is in my possession. When Hariśarman heard that, he said to her proudly, " Depart, I know all this; I know the past, present and future: but I will not denounce you, being a miserable creature that has implored my protection. But whatever gold is in your possession you must give back to me." When he said this to the maid, she consented and departed quickly. But Hariśarman reflected in his astonishment; " Fate, if propitious, brings about, a& if in sport, a thing that cannot be accomplished, for in this matter when calamity was near, success has unexpectedlv been attained by me. While I was blaming my tongue (jihvá), the thief Jihvá suddenly flung herself at my feet. Secret crimes I see, manifest themselves by means of fear " In these reflections he passed the night happily in the chamber. And in the morning he brought the king by some skilful parade of pretended knowledge into the garden, and led him up to the treasure, which was buried there and he said that the thief had escaped with a part of it. Then the king was pleaded and proceeded to give him villages. But the minister, named Devajnánin, whispered in the king's ear, " How can a man possess such knowledge unattainable by men, without having studied treatises; so