620
next four months in my house; shew me this favour, as you have come from a distant country." When we heard this, we said, " We will do what you say, Bráhman, if you will give us, at the end of the four months, whatever we may ask for." When we said this to Yajnasvámin, he answered, " If you ask for anything that it is in my power to give, I will certainly give it." When ho made this promise, we remained in his house. And when the four months were at an end, we said to that Bráhman, " We are going away, so give us what we ask for, as you long ago promised to do." He said, " What is that? " Then Śaśin pointed to me and said, "Give your daughter to this man, who is our chief." Then the Brahman Yajnasvámin, being bound by his promise, thought, " These fellows have tricked me; never mind; there can be no harm in it; he is a deserving youth." So he gave me his daughter with the usual ceremonies.
And when night came, I said laughing to the bride in the bridal chamber, " Do you remember those warm and those cool mangoes? " "When she heard this, she recognised me, and said with a smile, " Yes, country bumpkins are tricked in this way by city wits." Then I said to her, " Rest you fair, city wit; I vow that I the country bumpkin will desert you and go far away." When she heard this, she also made a vow, saying, " I too am resolved, for my part, that a son of mine by you shall bring you back again." When we had made one another these promises, she went to sleep with her face turned away, and I put my ring on her finger, while she was asleep. Then I went out, and joining my companions, started for my native city of Ujjayiní, wishing to make trial of her cleverness.
The Bráhman's daughter, not seeing me next morning, when she woke up, but seeing a ring on her finger marked with my name, said to herself, " So he has deserted me, and gone off; well, he has been as good as his word; and I must keep mine too, dismissing all regrets. And I see by this ring that his name is Múladeva; so no doubt he is that very Múladeva, who is so renowned for cunning. And people say that his permanent home is Ujjayiní; so I must go there, and accomplish my object by an artifice." When she had made up her mind to this, she went and made this false statement to her father, " My father, my husband has deserted me immediately after marriage; and how can I live here happily without him; so I will go on a pilgrimage to holy waters, and will so mortify this accursed body."
Having said this, and having wrung a permission from her unwilling father, she started off from her house with her wealth and her attendants. She procured a splendid dress suitable to a hetœra, and travelling along she reached Ujjayiní, and entered it as the chief beauty of the world. And
