The women were equally astonished at seeing me, and ran away, alarmed, into other adjoining rooms.  One old woman, however, remained behind, and, falling at my feet, said “Have pity on us poor helpless women; surely thou art a god, for no mortal could have thus found his way hither.  O tell us why thou art come.”

“Calm yourself,” I answered, “You have nothing to fear from me.  I am Arthapala, the son of the minister Kamapala and the Princess Kantimati, and have come thus unexpectedly on you while making an underground passage from my father’s house to the palace; but tell me who you all are, and how you come to be living here.”

“O prince,” she answered, “I had heard of your birth, but not of your preservation, and happy am I now to see you.  Know that the young lady whom you have just seen is the granddaughter of your maternal grandfather, Chandasinha.  The eldest son of that king died before his father, leaving his wife pregnant, and she lost her life in giving birth to this daughter, who was committed to my care.  One day the king sent for me, and said:  ’I intend this child when grown up to be given in marriage to Darpasara, son of the King of Malwa; and, remembering the misconduct of her aunt, I am determined that nothing of the kind shall happen with her.  I have therefore caused a spacious palace to be made underground, and have furnished it with provisions and all other necessaries for even a hundred years.  I have great confidence in you; you will therefore go down into this subterranean dwelling, taking with you the princess and such attendants as you may think desirable, and will remain there until she is grown up, when I shall fetch you from below, and give her in marriage as I have intended.’  So saying, he lifted up a small trap-door in the court-yard close to his own apartment, and showed me the steps leading to this place.  The next day we all came down, and have remained here ever since.  Twelve years have now passed, and the king seems to have forgotten us.  I must tell you also that the princess, though destined by her grandfather for Darpasara, was originally intended for you; for her mother, while the child was as yet unborn, promised that her daughter should become the wife of the son of Kantimati if he should ever return.  Look on her, therefore, as your intended, and do what is best for us.”

Having received this account from the old woman, I told her to have no fear on the princess’s account, but to trust entirely in me, and that I would soon liberate them from their long and tedious imprisonment.

She then took a lamp and showed me the steps leading to the trap-door, which I forced open, and soon found my way into the king’s bed-room.  There, before he was sufficiently awake to call for help, I seized, gagged, and bound him, and dragging him along, as an ichneumon drags a serpent, past the astonished women and through the tunnel which I had made, I brought him, trembling with fear and bowed down by shame, to my father’s house, and showed him to my parents, telling them how I had captured him, and how I had discovered the princess in the subterranean palace.