Then a horrid thought flashed across her mind: she perceived her fatal mistake, and her heart almost ceased to beat.
‘This is thy wife!’ cried the Brahman’s head that had been fastened to the soldier’s body.
‘No she is thy wife!’ replied the soldier’s head which had been placed upon the Brahman’s body.
‘Then she is my wife!’ rejoined the first compound creature.
‘By no means! she is my wife,’ cried the second.
‘What then am I?’ asked Devasharma-Gunakar.
‘What do you think I am?’ answered Gunakar-Devasharma, with another question.
‘Unmadini shall be mine,’ quoth the head.
‘You lie, she shall be mine,’ shouted the body.