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of the king's daughter: ' As I have lost all my wealth by gambling, I cannot now enter the house of my father, nor even the house of a hetœra, so, as I have no resource, it is better for me to assert falsely to those who are making the proclamation by beat of drum, that I have seen that city. Who will discover that I know nothing about it, for who has ever seen it? And in this way I may perhaps marry the princess." Thus reflecting Śaktideva went to the police, and said falsely, " I have seen that city." They immediately said to him, " Bravo ! then come with us to the king's warder." So he went with them to the warder. And in the same way he falsely asserted to him that he had seen that city, and he welcomed him kindly, and took him to the king. And without wavering he maintained the very same story in the presence of the king: what indeed is difficult for a blackleg to do who is ruined by play? Then the king, in order to ascertain the truth, sent that Bráhman to his daughter Kanakarekhá, and when she heard of the matter from the mouth of the warder, and the Bráhman came near, she asked him: " Have you seen that Golden City?" Then he answered her, " Yes, that city was seen by me when I was roaming through the earth in quest of knowledge."*[1] She next asked him, " By what road did you go there, and what is it like?" That Bráhman then went on to say: " From this place I went to a town called Harapura, and from that I next came to the city of Benares; and from Benares in a few days to the city of Paundravardhana, thence I went to that city called the Golden City, and I saw it, a place of enjoyment for those who act aright, like the city of Indra, the glory of which is made for the delight of gods. †[2] And having acquired learning there, I returned here after some time; such is the path by which I went, and such is that city." After that fraudulent Bráhman Śaktideva had made up this story, the princess said with a laugh;— " Great Bráhman, you have indeed seen that city, but tell me, tell me again by what path you went." When Śaktideva heard that, he again displayed his effrontery, and then the princess had him put out by her servants. And immediately after putting him out, she went to her father, and her father asked her: "Did that Bráhman speak the truth?"— And then the princess said to her father: " Though you are a king you act without due consideration; do you not know that rogues deceive honest people? For that Bráhman simply wants to impose on me with a falsehood, but the liar has never seen the golden city. And all kinds of deceptions are practised on the earth by rogues; for listen to the
