Chapter XLI.
And the next day, as Naraváhanadatta was in the apartments of Ratnaprabhá, talking over various subjects with his ministers, he suddenly heard a sound, which appeared to be like that of a man weeping outside in the court-yard of the palace. And when some one asked—“What is that?”—the female attendants came and said, “My lord, the chamberlain Dharmagiri is weeping here. For a foolish friend of his came here just now, and said that his brother, who went on a pilgrimage to holy places, was dead in a foreign land. He, bewildered with grief, forgot that he was in the court and began to lament, but he has been just now taken outside by the servants and conducted to his own house.” When the prince heard this, he was grieved, and Ratnaprabhá moved with pity said in a despondent tone—“Alas! the grief which is produced by the loss of dear relatives is hard to bear! Why did not the Creator make men exempt from old age and death?” When Marubhúti heard this speech of the queen’s, he said; “Queen, how can mortals ever attain this good fortune? For listen to the following story, which I will tell you, bearing on this question.”