“After granting this boon, Garur departed to his own abode, and Sankhchür also went home; and Jïmüt-bãhan too left the place, and met his father-in-law and mother-in-law and wife on the road Then he came in their company to his father. When they heard of these circumstances, his uncle and cousins, and indeed all his kinsfolk, came to visit him, and after falling at his feet (to implore forgiveness), took him away, and placed him on the throne.”
After relating so much of the story, the sprite asked, “O king! whose virtue was greatest among these?” King Bïr Vikramãjït replied, “Sankhchür’s.”
“How so?” asked the sprite. The king said, “Sankhchür, who had gone away (and so, got safe off,) returned to give up his life, and saved him (the prince) from being eaten by Garur.” The sprite said, “Why was not the virtue of him greatest, who laid down his life for another?” The king replied, “Jïmüt-bãhan was a Kshatri by caste. He was accustomed to holding his life in his hand, and hence he found it no hard matter to sacrifice his life.” On hearing this, the sprite went again and hung on to that tree; and the king, having gone there and bound him, placed him on his shoulder, and carried him off.
TALE XVI.
The sprite said, “Ô King Bir Vikramãjït! there is a. city named Chandra-shekhar, and a merchant named Ratandatt was an inhabitant thereof. He had one only daughter, whose name was Unmãdinï. When she attained to womanhood, her father went to the king of the place, and said, ‘Your majesty! I have a daughter (lit. there is a girl in my house); if you desire to possess her, take her; otherwise I will give her to some one else.’”
“When the king heard this, he summoned two or three old servants, and said to them, ‘Go and inspect the appearance of the merchant’s daughter.’ They came to the merchant’s house at the monarch’s bidding, and all became fascinated at the sight of the girl’s beauty,—such beauty, as if a brilliant light was placed in a dark house; eyes like those of a gazelle; plaits of hair like female snakes; eyebrows like a bow; nose like a parrot’s; a set of teeth (lit. the set of thirty-two) like a string of pearls; lips like the kandüri throat like a pigeon’s; waist like the leopard’s; hands and feet like a tender lotus; a face like the moon, a complexion of the colour of the champã, a gait like that of a goose, and a voice like the cuckoo’s; at the sight of her beauty the female divinities of Indra’s paradise would feel abashed.”
“On beholding beauty of this kind, so abundantly rich in all graces, they decided among themselves, (saying), ‘If such a woman enter the king’s household, the king will become her slave, and will not give a thought to the affairs of government. Hence, it is better to tell the king that she is ill-favoured, (and) not worthy of him.’ Having determined thus, they came thence to the king, and gave the following account:—‘We have seen the girl; she is not worthy of you.’ On hearing this, the king said to the merchant, ‘I will not wed her.’ Thereupon what does the merchant do on returning home, but give his daughter in marriage to one Balbhadra, who was the commander in-chief of the king’s army. She took up her abode in his house.”
“It is said that, one day, the royal cavalcade passed by that way; and she too was standing, fully attired, on her house-top, at the moment; (and) her eyes and those of the monarch chanced to meet. The king began to say to himself, ‘Is this the daughter of a god, or a female divinity, or the daughter of a human being?’ The short of it is, he was fascinated at the sight of her beauty, and returned thence to his palace in a state of extreme agitation. The warder, on beholding his countenance, said, ‘Your majesty! what bodily pain are you suffering from?’ The monarch replied, ‘While coming along the road to-day I saw a beautiful woman on a house-top. I know not whether she is a houri, or a fairy, or a human being; but her beauty drove my mind distracted all at once; and hence (it is that) I am agitated.’”