42 BLOOMFIELD— ON THE ART OF 



faithful wife was embodied in the queen who had been distracted 

 by the arrival of a strange man, but promptly became herself again 

 at the arrival of her own husband. When she perceived that his 

 speech, his gait, his habit, and his regard were just as before, she 

 fell crying at his feet and then quickly rose and clung to him. Then 

 she exclaimed : " Life, my Lord, became one grief when you were 

 absent in a strange land, and yet another grief when you appeared 

 in a delusive form. Wretched woman that I am, how I was de- 

 ceived by a false story, and what sort of test could I apply through 

 my knowledge of strange countries ?^°- What, under such circum- 

 stances, I did accomplish, being a mere woman, is wholly due to your 

 favor, born of the graciousness of your feet. Now do you, first of 

 all, explain to me without omission each of the shapes you assumed." 

 The king replied : " Your dearly beloved parrot yonder shall narrate 

 to you." The queen then said: "Your majesty! what purpose is 

 there in an affair that death has taken in charge ? The parrot whom 

 I have just now looked upon has become violently repulsive to me." 



Vikrama Generously Forgives the Treacherous Brahman, and is 

 Reunited witJi Kanialdvati (^ij-^24). 



The king took the parrot in his hand and said : " W'hat have we 

 here, O Brahman ? " The parrot replied : " That which befits them 

 that deceive their teacher, their king, and their friend. My king 

 art thou, because thou rulest men ; my teacher, because thou hadst 

 the Science bestowed on me ; my friend, because thou didst put confi- 

 dence in me : all that has been cut off by me as if by excision. ^-'^ The 

 king answered : " Look here, Brahman, why do you speak thus beside 

 the mark? Your conpanionship^"* has enabled me to pass the 

 troublous experience of the Science." The Brahman replied : " Full 

 well thou knowest, O King, what sort of companionship was mine. 



^"- She means to sa}' that she had no means of quizzing tlie fake king 

 about his experiences during his absence. 



^°2 Luptam lopavad maj-a, seemingly a grammatical pun : " has been 

 elided by me as if by elision." 



^"■* Lalitahga forgives the injuries done him by the wicked Sajjana for 

 the same reason, namely, former companionship, Pargvanatha, i. 293. See 

 the same trait in the story of Miiladeva, Proceedings of this .Society, Vol. 

 LIL, p. 643. 



