done;' and he showed me how, in a former existence, when you were
Sudraka and I Aryadasi, the child, now born of the Princess Kantimati,
was ours; therefore, I am really your wife, and it was indeed a
maternal instinct which prompted me to save the infant. Kuvera,
however, would not allow me to keep the boy, but ordered me to take
him to the Queen Vasumati, that he might be brought up together with
her son, who will one day become a great monarch.

"Having performed the command of the god, I am permitted by him to
find you out, and relieve you from your present distress."

"So saying, she embraced me, and afterwards took me to a fairy palace
in the forest, furnished with all comforts and luxuries, where I
passed some time with her in great happiness.

"One day, when she was expressing her great love for me, I said: 'I
have a strong desire to take some vengeance on the king who would have
put me to death.' Upon which, with a smile, she said, 'Ah! you wish
to see Kantimati; I am not jealous, I will take you to her.'

"Then lifting me up, she bore me through the air to the palace, and
without disturbing the guards, placed me at the bedside of the king.

"Grasping a sword lying near him, I awakened him, and said: 'I am,
your son-in-law; I took your daughter without your consent, and am now
come to make submission and atone for my fault."

"Seeing the drawn sword held over him he was much alarmed, and said:
'I must have been mad to act as I did and reject such a son-in-law; I
will now acknowledge you, and you shall duly marry my daughter.'

"He kept his word, the next day announced the intended marriage to all
the court, and shortly afterwards publicly gave me his daughter.

"Taravali remained with me, became great friends with her fellow-wife,
told her the story which she had related to me, and how her son had
been preserved and was taken care of by Queen Vasumati.

"Thus I have for some years lived happily, holding, as you know, a
very important office."

[End of the story of Kamapala as told to his servant.]

* * * * *

"Some time after this, the death of the old king occurred, and as the
eldest son had died during his father's lifetime, of consumption
brought on by dissipation and debauchery; my master, together with the
other ministers, placed Sinhaghosha, a boy about five years old, on
the throne, and had him carefully educated.

"As the young king grew older, he was surrou