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used at the evening oblation to Agni; I am a Yaksha." Having said this, and having immediately taught him by his power the form of words used in the evening oblation, the voice in the tree ceased. And the next morning the wise Somadatta set out with his wife, having received the name of Phalabhúti by imposition of the Yaksha, and after crossing various forests uneven and labyrinthine as his own calamities,*[1] he reached the land of Śríkantha. There he recited at the king's door the form of words used at the evening oblation, and then he announced, as he had been directed, his name as Phalabhúti, and uttered the following speech which excited the curiosity of the people, " The doer of good will obtain good, but the doer of evil, evil." And after he had said this frequently, the king Ádityaprabha, being full of curiosity, caused Phalabhúti to be brought into the palace, and he entered, and over and over again repeated that same speech in the presence of the king. That made the king and all his courtiers laugh. And the king and his chiefs gave him garments and ornaments, and also villages, for the amusement of great men is not without fruit; and so Phalabhúti, having been originally poor, immediately obtained by the favour of the Guhyaka †[2] wealth bestowed by the king ; and by continually reciting the words mentioned above, he became a special favourite of the monarch for the regal mind loves diversion. And gradually he attained to a position of love and respect in the palace, in the kingdom, and in the female apartments, as being beloved by the king. One day that king Ádityaprabha returned from hunting in the forest, and quickly entered his harem ; his suspicions were aroused by the confusion of the warders, and when he entered, he saw the queen named Kuvalayávalí engaged in worshipping the gods, stark naked, ‡[3] with her hair standing on end, and her eyes half-closed, with a large patch of red lead upon her forehead, with her lips trembling in muttering charms, in the midst of a great circle §[4] strewed with various coloured powders, after offering a horrible oblation of blood, spirits, and human flesh. She for her part, when the king entered, in her confusion seized her garments, and when questioned by him immediately answered, after craving pardon for what she had done, " I have gone through this ceremony in order that you might obtain prosperity, and now, my lord,
- ↑ * I here read durdaśáh for the durdarśáh of Dr. Brockhaus' text. It must be a misprint. A MS. in the Sankrit College reads durdaśáh.
- ↑ † The Guhyakas are demi-gods, attendants upon Kuvera and guardians of his wealth.
- ↑ ‡ Literally— having the cardinal points as her only garment.
- ↑ ‡ Literally— having the cardinal points as her only garment.§ For the circle cp. Henry VI. Part II. Act I, Sc. IV, line 25 and Henry V. Act V, Sc. 2, line 420. " If you would conjure, you must make a circle." See also Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, p.272. Veekenstedt's Wendische Sagen, pp. 292,302, 303.
