Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/572

 being a mighty poet, praised that god with hymns. Then the six-faced god, pleased with his well turned language, said to him; " King, I am pleased with thy hymns; I appoint thee this end of thy curse; thou shalt be separated from thy wife and son for one year, but after thou hast been saved from three great dangers, thou shalt come to an end of the separation." When the six-faced god had said this, he ceased to speak, and the king, satisfied with the nectar of his favour, bowed before him, and went to his own city.

Then, in course of time, he had a son born to him by queen Madanasundarí, as the nectar-stream is born of the light of the cold- rayed moon. When the king and queen saw the face of that son, being filled with great delight, they were not able to contain themselves.* And at that time the king made a feast, and showered riches, and made his name of Kanakavarsha † a literal fact on the earth.

When five nights had passed, while guard was being kept in the lying-in-house, on the sixth night a cloud suddenly came there. It swelled, and gradually covered the whole sky, as a neglected enemy overruns the kingdom of a careless king. Then the mast elephant of the wind began to rush, showering drops of rain like drops of ichor, and rooting up trees. At that moment a terrible woman, sword in hand, opened the door, though it was bolted, and entered that lying-in-chamber. She took that babe from the queen as she was nursing it, and ran out, having bewildered the attendants. And then the queen, distracted, and exclaiming, " Alas ! a Rákshasi has carried off my child," pursued that woman, though it was dark. And the woman rushed on and plunged into a tank with the child, and the queen, pursuing her, plunged in also, eager to recover her offspring. Immediately the cloud disappeared, and the night came to an end, and the lamentation of the attendants was heard in the lying-in-chamber. Then the king Kanakavarsha, hearing it, came to the lying-in-chamber, and seeing it empty of his son and wife, was distracted. After he had recovered consciousness, he began to lament, " Alas, my queen ! Alas, my infant son !" and then he called to mind that the curse was to end in a year. And he exclaimed, " Holy Skanda, how could you give to ill-starred me a boon joined with a curse, like nectar mixed with poison? Alas ! how shall I be able to pass a year, long as a thousand years, without the queen Madanasundarí, whom I value more than my life?" And the king, though exhorted by the ministers, who knew the circumstances, did not recover his composure, which had departed with his queen.