Page:Vikram and the vampire; or, Tales of Hindu devilry (IA vikramvampireort00burtrich).pdf/342

 'What do you think I am?' answered Gunakar-Devasharma, with another question.

'Unmadini shall be mine,' quoth the head.

'You lie, she shall be mine,' shouted the body.

'Holy Yama, hear the villain,' exclaimed both of them at the same moment.

In short, having thus begun, they continued to quarrel violently, each one declaring that the beautiful Unmadini belonged to him, and to him only. How to settle their dispute Brahma the Lord of creatures only knows. I do not, except by cutting off their heads once more, and by putting them in their proper places. And I am quite sure, O Raja Vikram! that thy wits are quite unfit to answer the question, To which of these two is the beautiful Unmadini wife? It is even said – amongst us Baitals – that when this pair of half-husbands appeared in the presence of the Just King, a terrible confusion arose, each head declaiming all the sins and peccadilloes which its body had committed, and that Yama the holy ruler himself hit his forefinger with vexation.

Here the young prince Dharma Dhwaj burst out