“Except me,” said the king, “is there any man equal to you? And why? Because you are my chief minister. Therefore marry her to my great pleasure.”
“O king, I will do so.”
Surrounded by the band of ministers, Mahaushadha invited the Brahmans, householders, and populace to be his guests. Collecting together the rest in great numbers, the elephant-drivers, the horse-drivers, the chariot-drivers, and the goers on foot, he went to the house of his father-in-law in the mountain forest Kaksha. Having arrived there, he celebrated a great wedding-feast, and after a time he returned to the city with his wife, and lived with her there in love’s delights.
After this there came from the north to King Janaka in Videha five hundred merchants with goods and horses. [[163]]In that city lived many courtesans, who were wont, by means of their wiles, to despoil of their goods the merchants who came thither. As soon as they heard that merchants had come from the north, they fastened upon them. But the chief of the merchants was very cautious. The most attractive of the women took him in hand, but with no success. Then she called the merchants together, and requested them to render their chief well disposed towards her. But although the merchants and the women took great pains day after day, yet he did not yield to enticement. Then that courtesan went to the chief and joked and laughed.
“Why do you trouble yourself?” said the chief. “You will not entice me.”
“What will you give me,” she asked, “if I do entice you?”
“I will give you five of our best horses. But if you fail to entice me, and you have no money, then you must follow after me.”
Thus ran their talk. But in spite of all her efforts she could not attain her end.
One day the merchants said to their chief, “Do as other people do?”