“Show me the way,” he said, “by which one can go straight and safely to the Kaksha forest.”
She pointed out to him a crooked road, and then set out herself along another road. There she took off her clothes beside a tank, shut one eye, and while waiting to see if he would recognise her or not, bowed down upon one side and said, “In the direction of the hand which is used in eating should one go. From the direction of the hand which is not used in eating should one deviate, and so go to the Rice-Soup forest.”
When Mahaushadha had gone some way along the road indicated to him, he perceived her from afar off, and said, “Fair one with the roguish eyes, having on no garment woven of cotton, but being clothed with the unspun and unweaved, show me how it is possible to go to Kusumagrāma.”
Thereupon said the maiden, slightly smiling, “Here leave on one side the left-hand road, where there is corn and the palāsa blossoms display themselves; there, O Brahman, must you take your way.”[10] [[158]]
He set forth. Coming to the house of Viśākhā’s father, he found that her parents were not at home. So he said to the village head-men, “If you allow it, I will take this woman to be my wife.”
When the head-men of the village heard these words, they immediately with one accord began to upbraid him, saying, “You wretched mendicant Brahman, are not you ashamed to want such a maiden as our Viśākhā? Get away with you at once from this spot. Or must we hand you over to be devoured by fierce dogs?”
Driven away by them, he returned to Viśākhā. While he was still at a distance, she bade him welcome. When he told her of his interview with the village head-men, who had been on the point of beating him, she said, “How and in what manner did you speak?”
When he had told her everything, Viśākhā said to him, “O Brahman, you are not expert in such matters. Have you behaved in the way in which a man ought to propose for a maiden?”
“How else, then, ought one to act?” asked the Brahman.
“First of all,” replied the maiden, “the man must draw near. Then he must gain favour. And if that is granted, he must offer hospitality and organise an entertainment, after which he may bring forward his desire.”