And after he had left his son, wife, and daughter there, he returned that very night to the palace-gate of the king, and stood there as before. King Śúdraka, for his part, who had beheld all unobserved, again went up to the roof of his palace. And he cried out from the roof, “Who is in attendance at the palace-gate?” Then Víravara said, “I myself am in waiting here, your Majesty. And in accordance with your orders I went in search of that woman, but she disappeared somewhere as soon as seen, like a Rákshasí.” When the king heard the speech of that Víravara, he was very much astonished, as he had himself seen what took place, and he said to himself, “Indeed people of noble spirit are deep and self-contained of soul as the sea, for when they have performed an unparalleled exploit, they do not utter any description of it.” Thus reflecting, the king silently descended from the roof of the palace, and entered his private apartments, and there spent the rest of the night.
And the next morning, Víravara came to present himself at the time of audience, and then the delighted king related to the ministers all that Víravara had gone through during the night, so that they were all, as it were, thunderstruck with wonder. Then the king gave to Víravara and his son the sovereignty over the provinces of Láṭa and Karṇáṭa, as a token of his regard. Then the two kings, Víravara and Śúdraka, being equal in power, lived happily in the interchange of mutual good offices.
When the Vetála had told this exceedingly wonderful story, he went on to say to king Trivikramasena, “So tell me, king, who was the bravest of all these, and if you know and do not tell, the curse, which I before mentioned, shall descend upon you.”
When the king heard this, he answered the Vetála, “King Śúdraka was the greatest hero of them all.” Then the Vetála said, “Was not Víravara greater, for his equal is not found on this earth? And was not his wife braver, who, though a mother, endured to witness with her own eyes the offering up of her son as a victim? And was not his son Sattvavara braver, who, though a mere child, displayed such preëminent courage? So why do you say that king Śúdraka was more heroic than these?”
When the Vetála said this, the king answered him, “Do not say so! Víravara was a man of high birth, one in whose family it was a tradition that life, son, and wife must be sacrificed to protect the sovereign. And his wife also was of good birth, chaste, worshipping her husband only, and her chief duty was to follow the path traced out for her by her husband. And Sattvavara was like them, being their son; assuredly, such as are the threads, such is the web produced from them. But Śúdraka excelled them all, because he was ready to lay down his life for those servants, by the sacrifice of whose lives kings are wont to save their own.”
When the Vetála heard that speech from that king, he at once left his shoulder, and returned invisibly to his former place by his supernatural power, but the king resolutely set out on his former path in that cemetery at night to bring him back again.
Note.
For the story of Víravara, see Vol. I, pp. 253 and 519. Oesterley refers us to Benfey’s Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 414, where it is shown to be based upon the Asadṛiśa Játaka of Buddha. The story is found in the Persian Tútínámah, No 21, (in Iken, p. 89,) in a form resembling that in the Hitopadeśa. But there is another form which is No. 2 in the same work of Kaderi and found in the older Tútínámah, (p. 17 in Iken,) which seems to be based on the Vetála Panchavinśati. This is also found in the Turkish Tútínámah. Jánbáz saves the life of a king by the mere determination to sacrifice himself and his whole family. (Oesterley’s Baitál Pachísí, pp. 185–187.) Benfey refers us to No. 39 in Basile’s Pentamerone, [Liebrecht’s German translation, Vol. II, pp. 116–134,] and to No. 6 in Grimm’s Kinder-Märchen.