Story of the ambitious Chaṇḍála maiden.
There was once a simple but good-looking Chaṇḍála maiden. And she formed in her heart the determination to win for her bridegroom a universal monarch. Once on a time, she saw the supreme sovereign go out to make a progress round his city, and she proceeded to follow him, with the intention of making him her husband. At that moment a hermit came that way; and the king, though mounted on an elephant, bowed at his feet, and returned to his own palace. When she saw that, she thought that the hermit was a greater man even than the king, and abandoning him, she proceeded to follow the hermit. The hermit, as he was going along, beheld in front of him an empty temple of Śiva, and kneeling on the ground, he worshipped Śiva, and then departed. Then the Chaṇḍála maiden thought that Śiva was greater even than the hermit, and she left the hermit, and attached herself to the god, with the intention of marrying him. Immediately a dog entered, and going up on to the pedestal of the idol, lifted up his leg, and behaved after the manner of the dog tribe. Then the Chaṇḍála maiden thought that the dog was superior even to Śiva, and leaving the god, followed the departing dog, desiring to marry him. And the dog entered the house of a Chaṇḍála, and out of affection rolled at the feet of a young Chaṇḍála whom it knew. When she saw that, she concluded that the young Chaṇḍála was superior to the dog, and satisfied with her own caste, she chose him as her husband.
“So fools, after aspiring high, fall into their proper place. And now hear in a few words the tale of the foolish king.”