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, O thou of mighty arms.  Do thou, O son of Kunti, repair to that dancing-hall, and take the life, O Pandava, of Kichaka, that son of a Suta intoxicated with vanity.  From vanity alone, that son of a Suta slights the Gandharvas.  O best of smiters, lift him up from the earth even as Krishna had lifted up the Naga (Kaliya) from the Yamuna.  O Pandava, afflicted as I am with grief, wipe thou my tears, and blessed be thou, protect thy own honour and that of thy race.’

“Bhima said, ’Welcome, O beauteous lady, Except the glad tidings thou bringest me, I need, O thou of exceeding beauty, no other aid whatever.  The delight that I feel, O thou of great beauty, on hearing from thee about my coming encounter with Kichaka, is equal to what I felt in slaying Hidimva.  I swear unto thee by Truth, by my brothers, and by morality, that I will slay Kichaka even as the lord of the celestials slew Vritra.  Whether secretly or openly, I will crush Kichaka, and if the Matsyas fight for him, then I will slay them too.  And slaying Duryodhana