40 BLOOMFIELD— ON THE ART OF 



women, as long as it derives knowledge from natural disposition 

 alone, is quite sure to go astray like a conceited Pandit." 



KamalCivatl Divines that tiie Parrot is Vikrama, Whereupon the 



Latter Abandons His Body and Enters into the Body of a 



House-lizard (28y-2pp). 



When the queen had heard this clear and substantial speech^^ of 

 the parrot, she thought that there was no one quite like him in 

 fulness of knowledge: "My faltering mind was under delusion: this 

 is the king, here speaks his voice!" While the queen was thus 

 rejoicing sleep descended upon her. Then the king in the guise of 

 a parrot, noticing there a dead house-lizard,*** entered into it, that 

 he might test whether the queen would virtuously keep her word. 

 Soon the queen, waking of herself, and seeing the parrot-prince lie 

 soundless, began to rouse him with hvmdreds of tender endearments : 

 " Speak, O parrot ! why dost thou not to-day pour nectar into my 

 ears ? Thou who hast awakened"'' me, shall I in turn awaken thee ^ 

 Abandon sleep, arise, recite the morning prayer ! Wlierefore this 

 darkness of sleep on the part of noble beings that make shine the 

 torch of their knowledge? W^hy dost thou to-day not give answer, 

 how didst thou wax wroth with me? Since thou preservest thine 

 own form shall I not forsooth suspect deception even in thy sleep?" 



When the parrot, urged by such and other words did not wake 

 up she arose in distress, and touched him wath her hand. Even so 

 he did not breathe ; then the queen fell in a faint. Soon coming to 

 herself she wailed and exclaimed : " Woe me, O parrot, why has this 

 wretched fate^^ overtaken thee? O evil destiny, tell me why he, who 

 is like a sandal-tree,^^ has been consumed by thy fire? Even a 



^•^ The original here contains an untranslatable metaphor : suvivararh 

 sagarbharh ca vacah. Her utterance is compared to a womb wide open 

 (suvivara) and containing an embryo (sagarbha) ; cf. sagarbhavacana in 

 this text, 7. 294. 



"* Grhagodhaka, not in the Lexicons. 



^^ The double meaning of the original, which means both " awaken " and 

 " enlight," must be left to the guess of the reader of a translation. 



^6 Daivakam. 



^^ Sandal-wood is the emblem and quintessence of coolness ; its consump- 

 tion by fire marks an extreme. See Kathas. 31. 23; " Indische Spriiche," 340, 

 663, 1763, 2215, 5278, 7360. 



