Vaisampayana continued, “Having thus conversed with others, and shed tears in grief, they waited for the dawn of that night with painful impatience.  And when the night had passed away, Kichaka, rising in the morning, went to the palace, and accosted Draupadi saying, ’Throwing thee down in the court I kicked thee in the presence of the king.  Attacked by mighty self, thou couldst not obtain protection.  This Virata is in name only the king of the Matsyas.  Commanding the forces of this realm it is I, who am the real lord of the Matsyas.  Do thou, O timid one, accept me cheerfully.  I shall become thy slave.  And, O thou of graceful hips, I will immediately give thee a hundred nishkas, and engage a hundred male and a hundred female servants (to tend thee), and will also bestow on thee cars yoked with she-mules.  O timid lady, let our union take place.’  Draupadi replied, ’O Kichaka, know even this is my condition.  Neither thy friends nor thy brothers should know thy union with me.  I am a terror of detection by those illustrious Gandharvas.  Promise me this, and I yield to thee.’  Hearing this Kichaka said, ’I will, O thou of graceful hips, do even as thou sayest.  Afflicted by the god of love, I will, O beauteous damsel, alone repair to thy abode for union with thee, O thou of thighs round and tapering like the trunks of the plantain,—­so that those Gandharvas, effulgent as the sun, may not come to know of this act of thine.’  Draupadi said, ’Do thou, when it is dark, go to the dancing-hall erected by the king of the Matsyas where the girls dance during the day, repairing to their respective homes at night.  The Gandharvas do not know that place.  We shall then without doubt, escape all censure.’”

Vaisampayana continued, “Reflecting on the subject of her conversation with Kichaka, that half a day seemed to Krishna as long as a whole month.  And the stupid Kichaka also, not knowing that it was Death that had assumed the form of a Sairindhri, returning home experienced the greatest delight.  And deprived of sense by lust, Kichaka became speedily engaged in embellishing his person with unguents and garlands and ornaments.  And while he was doing all this, thinking of that damsel of large eyes, the day seemed to him to be without an end.  And the beauty of Kichaka, who was about to forsake his beauty for ever, seemed to heighten, like the wick of a burning lamp about to expire.  And reposing the fullest confidence in Draupadi, Kichaka, deprived of his senses by lust and absorbed in the contemplation of expected meeting, did not even perceive that the day had departed.  Meanwhile, the beautiful Draupadi approaching her husband Bhima of the Kuru race, stood before him in the kitchen.  And that lady with tresses ending in beautiful curls then spake unto him, saying, ’O chastiser of foes, even as thou hadst directed, I have given Kichaka to understand that our meeting will take place in the dancing-hall.  Alone will he come at night to the empty hall.  Slay him there,