“‘You are right,’ he replied; ’there is good reason for what you have 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 surrounded by companions nearer his own age, and they not liking the restraint put upon them by the wise and prudent Kamapala, endeavoured secretly to excite a prejudice against him, saying, ’This fellow, who sets himself up to be so wise and virtuous, is a wicked wretch, who first seduced the princess, and then, having escaped the death he so well deserved, managed to get to the