se." And the king agreed to this and he cut off a
piece of flesh from his right thigh and weighed it against the pigeon.
But the pigeon weighed heavier. And thereupon the king cut off another
piece of his flesh, but the pigeon still weighed heavier, and then the
king cut off pieces of flesh from all parts of his body and placed them
on the scale. But the pigeon still weighed heavier, and then the king
himself ascended the scale and he felt no grief at this and beholding
this, the hawk disappeared there saying--(The pigeon hath been)
_Saved_,--And the king asked the pigeon saying, "O pigeon, let the Sivis
know who the hawk is. None but the lord of the universe could do as he
did. O Holy One, answer thou this question of mine!" And the pigeon then
said, "I am the smoke-bannered Agni called also Vaiswanara. The hawk is
none other than Sachi's lord armed with the thunder-bolt. O son of
Suratha, thou art a bull among men. We came to try thee. These pieces of
flesh, O king, that thou hast cut off with thy sword from thy body for
saving me have caused gashes in thy body. I will make these marks
auspicious and handsome and they will be of the colour of gold and emit
a sweet perfume, and earning great fame and respected by the gods and
the _Rishis_ thou shall long rule these subjects of thine, and a son
will spring from thy flank who shall be called _Kapataroman_. O king,
thou shalt obtain this son of the name of _Kapataroman_ from out of thy
own body and thou wilt behold him become the foremost of the
_Saurathas_, blazing with renown, possessed of bravery and great
personal beauty!"'"

SECTION CLXLVII

Vaisampayana said, "And the son of Pandu once more addressed Markandeya,
saying, 'Tell us again of the great good fortune of kings.' And
Markandeya said, 'There came unto the horse-sacrifice of king Ashtaka of
Viswamitra's race, many kings. And there came unto that sacrifice the
three brothers also of that king, viz., Pratardana, Vasumanas, and Sivi,
the son of Usinara. And after the sacrifice was completed, Ashtaka was
proceeding on his car along with his brothers when they all beheld
Narada coming that way and they saluted the celestial _Rishi_ and said
unto him, "Ride thou on this car with us." And Narada, saying, _So be
it_, mounted on the car, and one among those kings having gratified the
holy and celestial _Rishi_ Narada, said, "O Holy One, I desire, to ask
thee something." And the _Rishi_ said, "Ask." And the person, t