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it by the banner, and have seen the goddess, and after that, you; what
other hospitality do I require? " When the maiden heard that, she said, " Then come, out of curiosity, to see my second city, which is the wonder of the three worlds." When she said this, the king laughed and said, " Oh ! he told mo of this also, the place where there is the tank to bathe in." Then the maiden said, " King, do not speak thus, I am not of a deceitful disposition, and who would think of cheating one so worthy of respect? I have been made the slave of you both by your surpassing excellence; so you ought not thus to reject my offer."
When the king heard this, he consented, and taking Sattvaśila with him, he accompanied the maiden to that glittering enclosure. And the door of it was opened, and she conducted him in, and then be beheld that other splendid city of hers. The trues in it were ever producing flowers and fruits, for all seasons were present there at the same time;*[1] and the city was all composed of gold and jewels like the peak of mount Meru. And the Daitya maiden made the king sit down on a priceless jewelled throne, and offered him the arghya in due form, and said to him, " I am the daughter of Kálanemi the high-souled king of the Asuras, but my father was sent to heaven by Vishnu, the discus-armed god. And these two cities, which I inherit from my father, are the work of Viśvakarman; they furnish all that heart can wish, and old age and death never invade them. But now I look upon you as a father, and I, with my cities, am at your disposal." When she had in these words placed herself and all that she possessed at the king's disposal, he said to her, " If this be so, then I give you, excellent daughter, to another, to the hero Sattvaśila, who is my friend and relation." When the king, who seemed to be the favour of the goddess Durgá in bodily form, said this, the maiden, who understood excellence when she saw it, acquiesced submissively. When Sattvaśila had attained the wish of his heart by marrying that Asura maiden, and had had the sovereignty of those cities bestowed on him, the king said to him, " Now I have repaid you for one of those ámalakas which I ate, but I am still indebted to you for the second, for which I have never recompensed you." When the king had said this to Sattvaśila, who bowed before him, he said to that Daitya maiden, " Now shew me the way to my own city." Then the Daitya maiden gave him a sword named " Invincible," and a fruit to eat, which was a remedy against old age and death, and with these he plunged into the tank which she pointed out, and the next thing that happened to him was, that he rose up in his own laud with all
- ↑ *Cp. Spenser's Fairy Queen, Book III, canto 6. stanza 42. There is continual spring, and harvest there Continual, both meeting at one tyme. Cp. also Odyssy VII 117, Milton, P. L., IV. 148.
