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for otherwise, as lie has no children hut me, he would abandon his life."*[1]
When the good woman had said this, the god once more spake to her,
saying, " Let thy father have a hundred sons ! choose another boon; for such a steadfastly good woman, as thou art, deserves something more than this."
When she heard this, she said, " If the Lord is pleased with me, then let this husband of mine rise up alive, and be henceforth a well conducted man I" Thereupon Śiva, invisible in the air, uttered these words, " Be it so; let thy husband rise up alive, and lead henceforth a life of virtue, and let king Víraketu be pleased with him !" And immediately the robber rose up alive with unwounded limbs.
Then the merchant Ratnadatta was delighted, and astonished at the same time; and with his daughter Ratnavatí and the bandit his son-in-law, and his delighted relations, he entered his own palace, and as be had obtained from the god the promise of sons, he held a feast suitable to his own joy on the occasion. And when king Víraketu heard what had taken place, he was pleased, and he immediately summoned that heroic thief, and made him commander of his army. And thereupon the heroic thief gave up his dishonest life, and married the merchant's daughter, and led a respectable life, honoured by the king.
When the Vetála, seated on the shoulder of king Trivikramasena, had told him this tale, he asked him the following question, menacing him with the before-mentioned curse; " Tell me, king, why that thief, when impaled, first wept and then laughed, when he saw the merchant's daughter come with her father." Then the king said; " He wept for sorrow that he had not been able to repay the merchant for his gratuitous kindness to him; and he laughed out of astonishment, as he said to himself, ' What ! has this maiden, after rejecting kings who asked for her hand, fallen in love with me? In truth a woman's heart is an intricate labyrinth.' " When the king had said this, the mighty Vetála, by means of the magic power which he possessed, again left the king's shoulder and returned to his station on the tree, and the king once more went to fetch him.
- ↑ * Cp. Mahábhárata, Vanaparvan, Adhyáya 297, Śl. 39.
