ENTERING ANOTHER'S BODY. 31 



herself with the art of poetry. Eagerly she addressed her: 

 " Woman, go with speedy feet, pay the man his price, and bring 

 hither the parrot prince ! " Thus the servant did, and the hunter, 

 contented, went to his home. She put the parrot into the lotus of 

 her hand, and brought him into the presence of the queen. 



When he saw Kamalavati joyfully coming to meet him the 

 parrot extended his right wing, and chanted sweetly : " O Queen, 

 in order to uphold thy weight, as thou restest on his left arm, 

 Vikrama holds the earth as a counter-balance on his right arm."*'' 

 The queen replied smiling : " O parrot ! what you say amounts to 

 this, that one cannot, unless he rules the earth, drag the load of 

 a woman. Very pointedly have you stated that we impose a great 

 burden : what wise person would not be pleased with a statement of 

 the truth?" When she had thus out of modesty deprecated the 

 parrot's flattery in description of herself, she put him in a golden 

 cage furnished with agreeable resting places. She herself kept his 

 abode sweet by washing and fumigating, and fed him on choice rose- 

 apples, pomegranate seeds, and myrobalans. And whatever other 

 things he desired to eat or drink she brought to him, and she con- 

 stantly regaled herself with the nectar flow of his conversation. 



Kamalavati and the Parrot Engage in a Contest of Riddles and 

 Charades (210-22/). 



1. A Charade on the Mystic Formula om namah siddham utta- 

 ram. — The queen bid him recite some riddles, and without further 

 ado the parrot, for mental diversion, recited : " On w^hat do ascetics 

 in contemplation ponder, and what is ever performed for a Teacher? 

 What manner of thing do lofty men obtain, and what do pupils first 

 recite?" 



When the queen, thus asked, puzzled long, and did not know, 

 the parrot gave the answer : — om namah siddham uttaram.^^ 



2. Riddle on the Rounding of the Lips in Pronouncing Labials. — 



^'^ His right v.-ing s}-mbolizes Vikrama's right arm in the following passage. 

 It is a common conceit that' the king bears the burden of the earth ; e. g., 

 Prabandhacintamani (Tawney's Translation), p. 107. 



6^ The formula is, of course, treated analytically: in the fourth question 

 the adjective uttaram which in the formula qualifies siddham is taken as a 

 noun in the sense of "answer." The other three are: (i) The sacred sylla- 

 ble om; (2) namah, "obeisance"; (3) mystic perfection. 



