Vaisampayana continued, “Hearing these frightful words of the king of Sindhu, Krishna retired from that place, her face furrowed into a frown owing to the contraction of her eye-brows.  But disregarding his words from supreme contempt, the slender-waisted Krishna reproving said unto the king of Sindhu, ’Speak not thus again!  Art thou not ashamed?  Be on thy guard!’ And that lady of irreproachable character anxiously expecting the return of her husband, began, with long speeches, to beguile him completely.”

SECTION CCLXVI

Vaisampayana said, “The daughter of Drupada, though naturally handsome, was suffused with crimson arising from a fit of anger.  And with eyes inflamed and eye-brows bent in wrath, she reproved the ruler of the Suviras, saying, ’Art thou not ashamed, O fool, to use such insulting words in respect of those celebrated and terrible warriors, each like unto Indra himself, and who are all devoted to their duties and who never waver in fight with even hosts of Yakshas and Rakshasas?  O Sauvira, good men never speak ill of learned persons devoted to austerities and endued with learning, no matter whether they live in the wilderness or in houses.  It is only wretches that are mean as thou who do so.  Methinks there is none in this assemblage of Kshatriya, who is capable of holding thee by the hand to save thee from falling into the pit thou openest under thy feet.  In hoping to vanquish king Yudhishthira the just, thou really hopest to separate, stick in hand, from a herd roaming in Himalayan valleys, its leader, huge as a mountain peak and with the temporal juice trickling down its rent temples.  Out of childish folly thou art kicking up into wakefulness the powerful lion lying asleep, in order to pluck the hair from off his face!  Thou shalt, however, have to run away when thou seest Bhimasena in wrath!  Thy courting a combat with the furious Jishnu may be likened to thy kicking up a mighty, terrible, full-grown and furious lion asleep in a mountain cave.  The encounter thou speakest of with those two excellent youths—­the younger Pandavas—­is like unto the act of a fool that wantonly trampleth on the tails of two venomous black cobras with bifurcated tongues.  The bamboo, the reed, and the plantain bear fruit only to perish and not to grow in size any further.  Like also the crab that conceiveth for her own destruction, thou wilt lay hands upon me who am protected by these mighty heroes!’

Jayadratha replied, ’I know all this, O Krishna, and I am well aware of the prowess of those princes.  But thou canst not frighten us now with these threats.  We, too, O Krishna, belong by birth to the seventeen high clans, and are endowed with the six royal qualities.[89] We, therefore, look down upon the Pandavas as inferior men!  Therefore, do thou, O daughter of Drupada, ride this elephant or this chariot quickly, for thou canst not baffle us with thy words alone; or, speaking less boastfully, seek thou the mercy of the king of the Sauviras!’