O great king! Ookha made no reply to this speech, but became more ashamed, and crept into the corner; upon this he immediately laid hold of her by the hand, and seated her upon his bed; and, addressing her in the language of affection, dispelled all her anxiety and shame, and alarm; they sat together on the bed and began to exchange amorous glances, and engage in loving dalliance, and relate the history of their love. In the course of conversation Unroodrù Jee enquired from Ookha, “How didst thou, O beautiful creature! first see me, and afterwards have me brought here? Explain the circumstances fully to me, that my doubts may be all removed?” On hearing this Ookha, gazing with delight on the face of her husband, said, “You came to me in a dream, and stole away my affections; on awaking my mind was greatly troubled, and I mentioned the subject to Chitrekha, who, O lord! has brought you here, and whose proceedings I do not know.” Afterwards Ookha said, “O great king! I have mentioned how I first saw, and have since found, you; be pleased now, O lord of the Judoos! to explain how you first saw me.” Unroodrù was highly delighted at this request, and replied, smiling, “O beauteous fair! I also saw thee in a dream last night, and some one took me up in my sleep and brought me here. I have not yet discovered who it was, and, on awaking, I beheld thee.”
Having recited thus much of the history, Shree Shookdeo Jee said,—O great king! the two lovers conversed thus with each other; and in the fervour of their affection, indulged in all kinds of voluptuous pleasure and dalliance, and vanished all recollection of the pangs of separation they had endured; subsequently when Ookha found the taste of pawn insipid, the pearl necklace cold to the touch, and the light of the lamp dim, and went outside, she perceived that it was morning. The light of the moon was diminished, the splendour of the stars dimmed, and there was a dark, red colour in the sky. The birds were chirping on all sides, the white esculent lotus was withered, and the other lotus blooming, the red goose and its mate were together.
O great king! observing this state of things, Ookha immediately shut all the doors, and came in great fright into the house, and, putting her arms most affectionately round her husband’s neck, laid down upon the bed; then having concealed him, and hid him from the sight of her female friends and companions, she began to attend upon him in secret; after some time her friends and companions found out that Unroodrù had come there, and that she passed the day and night in amorous enjoyment with her lord. One day Ookha’s mother came to look after her daughter; and without being observed saw her seated very happily, and playing at choupur in a house with a very handsome young man. On perceiving this, she returned home, without saying a word, on tiptoe, and in profound silence; highly delighted and uttering benedictions. Some days afterwards Ookha seeing her husband asleep, came forth blushing from the house, and thinking to herself, “I hope that no one from not seeing me will imagine, that I remain in the house for my husband’s sake.”
O great king! Ookha leaving her husband alone, went off; but could not stay away from him, she returned again to the house, and shutting the doors, engaged in amorous diversion. On observing this act, the door-keepers said to each other, “Brother! what is the reason of the Raja’s daughter having to-day come out of the house after remaining there so long, and returning again immediately?” One of them remarked, “Brother! for some days past I have observed the doors of Ookha’s house shut day and night, and there is some man inside, who sometimes laughs and talks with her, and sometimes plays at choupur.” Another said, “If this be true, let us go and mention the matter to Banasoor; why should we, knowing these circumstances, remain sitting quietly here?” One of them said, “Let us not mention the matter, remain all of you at some distance from the house, let what will happen; no one can control the future, speak not a word about what the young lady may do, but remain silent spectators of all that happens.”
O great king! whilst the door-keepers were thus conversing with each other, Banasoor came wandering about there, accompanied by several strong, powerful men; and as he looked up at the top of the house, not perceiving the flag, which Shivù Jee had given, said, “What has happened to remove the flag hence?” The door-keepers replied, “O great king! it is now many days since the flag fell, and was broken to pieces.” On hearing this, and calling to mind what Shivù Jee had said, Banasoor became thoughtful, and exclaimed, “When did the flag fall, some enemy has come, and carried it off.” When Banasoor had thus spoken, a door-keeper came into his presence: and joining his hands, and bending his head, said, “I have an important matter to communicate, which I cannot mention unless I obtain your permission to do so.” Banasoor granting permission, told him to communicate what he had to say. The door-keeper then said, “O great king! excuse my fault, we have observed for some days past, that a man has come into your daughter’s house; day and night he converses with her, we have not discovered what man he is, and whence he has come, and what he does.”
On hearing this authentic statement, Banasoor was exceedingly angry, and seizing his arms, went silently and alone to Ookha’s house; concealing himself, he saw on his arrival a man of a black colour, very handsome and dressed in yellow, lying fast asleep with Ookha. Banasoor thought to himself, “It would be a sin to kill a sleeping man.”
O great king! with these thoughts in his mind, Banasoor stationed several guards there, and having told them to inform him when the man awoke; came home, and holding a court, and having summoned all his demons, began to say, “My enemy has arrived, take the whole of your army and go and surround Ookha’s house, I will come also by and bye.”
On receiving Banasoor’s order, the demons all came and surrounded Ookha’s house; whilst in the mean while, Unroodrù and the Raja’s daughter having awoke, began to play again at choupur. Whilst they were engaged at the game, Ookha saw thundering clouds collected from all quarters, lightning began to flash, frogs, peacocks and sparrow hawks began to utter cries.
O great king! on hearing the sparrow hawk’s cry, the Raja’s daughter said, leaning on the neck of her beloved, “O sparrow hawk! do not call out thus, leave off this language of separation.” In the mean while, some one came and said to Banasoor, “O great king! thy enemy has awoke.” On hearing mention made of his enemy, Banasoor rose in great wrath; and taking arms with him, went and stood at Ookha’s door, and began to peep inside. After looking some time, Banasoor called out loudly, “Ho! who are you inside the house, rich in appearance, fascinating as Cupid, with lotus-like eyes, and dressed in yellow? What thief will come forth? How will he possibly escape from me?”
O great king! when Banasoor had thus bawled out, Ookha and Unroodrù, on seeing and hearing him were greatly disquieted. The Raja’s daughter being perplexed and terrified, heaving deep sighs, said to her husband, “O great king! my father has come to attack us with an army of demons, how will you escape from his hands?” Then Unroodrù was angry, and said, “Wife! be not at all alarmed, I will destroy the whole crowd of evil spirits and demons in a second.”