When the king had said this, he ceased, and the Vetála immediately left his shoulder, and went back to his own place, disappearing by his magic power. But the king, without hesitating for a moment, rapidly pursued him; the hearts of great men, as of great seas, are firm and unshaken.
Note.
Oesterley (p. 210) tells us that a boy is in the same way sold to a king as a victim in the 32nd tale of the Turkish collection of tales, called “The Forty Viziers.” When the king is about to rip up the child’s body, the child laughs for the same reason as in our text. The cause of the sacrifice is however different. The king is to be healed by placing his feet in the body of a boy.
The promise of a golden image to any one who is willing to sacrifice his life is also found in the Bengali edition of the Sinhásana-dvátrinśati. A rich man makes a golden image, with an inscription on it to the effect that whoever is willing to sacrifice his life shall have it. Vikramáditya goes to the place disguised, and cuts off his head, but the goddess heals him, (Benfey’s Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 109.)
[1] i. e., wonderful peak.
[2] Here there is probably a pun. The phrase may mean that the king delighted in the dark-grey skins of the pigs.
[3] This alludes to Indra’s clipping with his bolts the wings of the mountains. The Śarabha is a fabulous eight-legged animal.
[4] The natives of India beckon in this way.