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for the sake of the Vidyádharí named Bhadrá, so do you take me there." The Rákshasa said— " Very good"— so he ascended his shoulder, and travelled in that night over sixty yojanas of difficult country; and in the morning he crossed the Śítodá a river that cannot be crossed by mortals, and without effort reached the border of the land of the Siddhas. The Rákshasa said to him; " Here is the blessed mountain, called the mountain of the rising sun, in front of you, but I cannot set foot upon it as it is the home of the Siddhas." Then the Rákshasa being dismissed by him departed, and there Vidúshaka beheld a delightful lake, and he sat down on the bank of that lake beautiful with the faces of full-blown lotuses, which, as it were, uttered a welcome to him with the hum of roaming bees. And there he saw unmistakeable footsteps as of women, seeming to say to him, this is the path to the house of your beloved. While he was thinking to himself— " Mortals cannot set foot on this mountain, therefore I had better stop here a moment, and see whose footsteps these are"— there came to the lake to draw water many beautiful women with golden pitchers in their bands. So he asked the women, after they had filled their pitchers with water, in a courteous manner; " For whom are you taking this water?" And those women said to him— " Excellent Sir, a Vidyádharí of the name of Bhadrá is dwelling on this mountain, this water is for her to bathe in." Wonderful to say ! Providence seeming to be pleased with resolute men, who attempt mighty enterprises, makes all things subserve their ends. For one of these women suddenly said to Vidúshaka; " Noble sir, please lift this pitcher on to my shoulder." He consented and when he lifted the pitcher on to her shoulder, the discreet man put into it the jewelled ring he had before received from Bhadrá,*[1] and then he sat down again on the bank of that lake, while those women went with the water to the house of Bhadrá. And while they were pouring over Bhadrá the water of ablution, her ring fell into her lap. When Bhadrá saw it, she recognized it and asked those friends of hers whether they had seen any stranger about. And they gave her this answer; " We saw a young mortal on the banks of the lake, and he lifted this pitcher for us." Then Bhadrá said " Go and make him bathe and adorn himself, and quickly bring him here, for he is my husband who has arrived in this country." When Bhadrá had said this, her companions went and told Vidúshaka the state of the case, and after he had bathed brought him into her presence. And when he arrived, he saw after long separation Bhadrá who was eagerly expecting him, like the ripe blooming
- ↑ * Cp. the way in which Torello informs his wife of his presenee in Boccacio's Decameron Xth day Nov. IX. The novels of the Xth day must he derived from Indian, and probably Buddhistic sources. There is a Buddhistic vein in all of them. A striking parallel to the 5th Novel of the Xth day will be found further on in this work. Cp. also, for the incident of the ring, Thorpe's Yuletide Stories, p. 167.
