30 BLOOMFIELD— ON THE ART OF 



engaged in killing parrots with a sling-shot. ^^ The king, worried by 

 his great body, hard to sate and unwieldy, considered : " What use 

 is this body to me? Surely scope of action is more advantageous 

 to success ! Therefore I shall enter into the body of a parrot !" 

 And thus he did. 



Then the parrot said to the hunter : " Friend, what do you want 

 to be killing so many parrots for? Take me to Avanti, and you 

 surely will get a thousand tanka-coins for me ; you must, however, 

 give me assurance of personal safety." The hunter on hearing this 

 gladly promised the parrot security and then took him in his hand. 

 Next he fed him on meaP* and water, put him at his ease, and 

 then went to Avanti, where he took stand on the king's highway. 

 When the people asked the parrot's price, the hunter said it was a 

 thousand ; he recites W'hatever Castras people ask for. Then they 

 offered even more than the price asked, but the hunter, at the 

 bidding of the parrot, refused to accept. Finally he demanded an 

 exorbitant price. 



Queen Kamaldvatl Buys the Parrot, Engages Him in Brilliant Con- 

 versation, and Makes Dispositions for His Comfort 

 (ip6-2op). 



At this juncture some attendant maids belonging to Queen 

 Kamalavati arrived. Tlje parrot who knew well their dispositions, 

 when accosted by one of them, recited in a sweet voice : " Pierced 

 by the arrow of thine eyes, O graceful lady, one deems one's self 

 happy and lives ; not pierced one dies : here is a marvelous Science 

 of Archery ! Now do thou in turn recite something, that I may 

 repeat it after thee in the manner of a pupil." But she retorted: 

 "Thou art thyself a veritable Guru. Of whom shouldst thou be 

 the pupil ? " 



Then the maid, delighted, went and reported to the Queen : " O 

 Mistress ! never before have I seen or heard a parrot so highly 

 cultivated." The queen, enchanted by her report, concluded that 

 Fate had furnished the parrot as a means by which she might divert 



83 Dhanurgolika : the word recurs in the same text, i. 317, in the form 

 dhanurgulika. This compound is not in the Lexicons. 

 ^* Curni for cfirna ; so also this text, i. 386; 7. 351. 



