But on observing that the fiend's feet were soft as a lotus-heart, he asked him: "Sir, why are your feet so tender?"
And the fiend replied: "I am under a vow never to touch the ground with my feet until I have washed them." Soon the Brahman, while meditating a plan of escape, came to a lake. Here the fiend said: "Sir do not stir from this spot until I come forth from the lake after bathing and worshiping the god."
Thereupon the Brahman thought: "He will be sure to eat me after his worship. I will hurry away. For he will not follow me with unwashen feet."
And when he did so, the fiend, not daring to break his vow, did not follow.
"And that is why I say:
A prudent man should always ask, . . . .
and the rest of it."
After listening to this, the king summoned the Brahmans and said: "Brahmans, a three-breasted daughter has been born to me. Are any remedial measures to be taken, or not?" And they replied: "O King, listen.
A daughter fitted out with limbs
Too numerous or few,
Will lose her character, and will
Destroy her husband, too.
But if the father sees a girl
With triple breast about,
