Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/452

 cess is tired." Then Mahalliká was dismissed by her father, looking askance at Súryaprabha, and after she had bowed before the princes of the Daityas, she went home. And the princes of the Daityas went to their respective houses, and Súryaprabha too went to his dwelling at the close of day. And when the night came, Kalávatí again came to visit him, and he slept secretly within with her, with all his followers sleeping outside. In the meanwhile Mahalliká also came there, eager to see him, accompanied by two confidantes. Then a minister of Súryaprabha's, named Prajnádhya, who happened at that moment to have his eyes forsaken by sleep, paw her attempting to enter. And he, recognising her, rose up and said— " Princess, remain here a moment until I enter and come out again." She alarmed, said— " Why are we stopped, and why are you outside?" Prajnádhya again said to her— " Why do you enter in this sudden way when a man is sleeping at his ease ? Besides, my lord sleeps alone to-night on account of a vow." Then the daughter of Prahláda, being ashamed, said, " So be it, enter," and Prajnádhya went inside. Seeing that Kalávatí was asleep, he woke up Súryaprabha and himself told him that Mahalliká had arrived. And Súryaprabha, hearing of it, gently rose up, and went out, and beholding Mahalliká with two others, he said— " This person has been supremely blessed by your arrival, let this place be blessed also, take a seat." When Mahalliká heard this, she sat down with her friends, and Súryaprabha also sat down, with Prajnádhya by his side. And when he sat down, he said— " Fair one, although you shewed contempt for me by seeming to look on others in- the assembly with respect, nevertheless, O rolling-eyed one, my eyes were blessed as soon as they beheld your dancing as well as your beauty." When Súryaprabha said this, the daughter of Prahláda answered him— " This is not my fault, noble sir,* he is in fault, who made me ashamed in the hall of assembly by putting me beside my part in the pantomime." When Súryaprabha heard this, he laughed and said— " I am conquered." And then that prince seized her hand with his, and it perspired and trembled, as if afraid of the rough seizure. And she said— " Let me go, noble sir, I am a maiden under my father's control,"— then Prajnádhya said to that daughter of the chief of the Asuras, " Is not there not such a thing as the Gándharva marriage of maidens? And your father, who has seen your heart, will not give you to another, moreover e will certainly do some honour to this prince here; so away with timidity ! Let not such a meeting be thrown away !" While Prajnádhya was saying this to Mahalliká, Kalávatí woke up within. And not seeing Súryaprabha on the bed, after waiting a long time, she was terrified and apprehensive and went out. And seeing her lover in the company of Mahalliká, she was angry and ashamed and terrified. Mahalliká too, when she saw her, was terrified and angry and ashamed,