And the king said unto him, ‘Returning, I will
give thee a horse.’ But the Brahmana said,
‘Let the steed be given to me soon.’
And the king gave him the only horse he had.
And seizing the yoke of the car himself, the king
began to draw it. And as he did so, he said, ’There
is now nothing for the Brahmanas.’ The
king had given away, it is true, but he had done so
with detraction. And for that speech of his, he
shall have to fall down from heaven. And after
the Rishi had said so, of the two that remained, one
asked, ‘Who amongst us two shall fall down?’
And the Rishi answered, ‘Vasumanas.’
And the enquirer asked, ‘For what reason?’
And Narada said, ’In course of my wanderings
I arrived at the abode of Vasumanas. And at that
time the Brahmanas were performing the ceremony of
Swastivachana for the sake of a flowery car.[51] And
I approached the king’s presence. And after
the Brahmanas had completed the ceremony, the flowery
car became visible to them. And I praised that
car, and thereupon the king told me, ’Holy one,
by thee hath this car been praised. Let this
car, therefore, be thine.’ And after this
I went to Vasumanas another time when I was in need
of a (flowery) car. And I admired the car, and
the king said, ‘It is thine.’ And
I went to the king a third time and admired the car
again. And even then the king exhibiting the flowery
car to the Brahmanas, cast his eyes on me, and said,
’O holy one, thou hast praised the flowery car
sufficiently.” And the king only said these
words, without making me a gift of that car. And
for this he will fall down from heaven.’
“And one among them said, ’Of the one
who is to go with thee, who will go and who will fall
down?’ And Narada answered, saying, ’Sivi
will go, but I will fall down.’ ‘For
what reason?’ asked the enquirer. And Narada
said, ’I am not the equal of Sivi. For one
day a Brahmana came unto Sivi and addressing him,
said, ‘O Sivi, I came to thee for food.’
And Sivi replied unto him, saying. ‘What
shall I do? Let me have thy orders.’
And the Brahmana answered, ’This thy son known
by the name of Vrihadgarbha should be killed.
And, O king, cook him for my food.’ And
hearing this, I waited to see what would follow.
And Sivi then killed his son and cooking him duly
and placing that food in a vessel and taking it upon
his head, he went out in search of the Brahmana and
while Sivi was thus seeking, for the Brahmana, some
one told him, The Brahmana thou seekest, having entered
thy city, is setting fire to thy abode and he is also
setting fire, in wrath, to thy treasury, thy arsenal,
the apartments of the females and thy stables for
horses and elephants.’ And Sivi heard all
this, without change of colour, and entering his city
spoke unto the Brahmana, ‘O holy one, the food
has been cooked.’ And the Brahmana hearing
this spoke not a word and from surprise he stood with
downcast looks. And Sivi with a view to gratifying
the Brahmana said, ’O holy one, eat thou this.’