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tioned by Bethala:—Why did the minister die? For the king's return? For the king's marrying the girl whom he (the minister) had fallen in love with"? To which Vikramarka replied that the minister poisoned himself because he foolishly communicated to the king the excellence of the girl in question, being fully aware of the king's previous conduct. Bethala once more disappeared.
Thus did Bethala abscond twenty-four times, and thus was he fetched again and again by Vikramarka.
