Chapter
LXXXVIII
(Vetála)
Then king
Trivikramasena went to the aśoka-tree, and again got hold of the Vetála, and
took him on his shoulder; and when the king had set out, the Vetála again said
to him, “King, you are tired; so listen, I will tell you an interesting tale.
Story
of the Merchant’s daughter who fell in love with a thief
There is a
city of the name of Ayodhyá, which was the capital of Vishṇu, when he was
incarnate as Ráma, the destroyer of the Rákshasa race. In it there lived a
mighty king, of the name of Víraketu, who defended this earth, as a rampart
defends a city. During the reign of that king there lived in that city a great
merchant, named Ratnadatta, who was the head of the mercantile community. And
there was born to him, by his wife Nandayantí, a daughter named Ratnavatí, who
was obtained by propitiating the deities. And that intelligent girl grew up in
her father’s house, and as her body grew, her innate qualities of beauty,
gracefulness, and modesty developed also. And when she attained womanhood, not
only great merchants, but even kings asked her in marriage from her father. But
she disliked the male sex so much that she did not desire even Indra for a
husband, and would not even hear of marriage, being determined to die, sooner
than consent to it. That made her father secretly sorrow much, on account of
his affection for her, and the report of her conduct spread all over the city
of Ayodhyá.
At that
time all the citizens were continually being plundered by thieves, so they
assembled together, and made this complaint to king Víraketu; “Your Majesty, we
are continually being robbed by thieves every night, and we cannot detect them,
so let your Highness take the necessary steps.” When the king had received this
petition from the citizens, he stationed watchmen in plain clothes all round
the city, in order to try and discover the thieves.
But they
could not find them out, and the city went on being robbed; so one night the
king himself went out to watch; and as he was roaming about armed, he saw in a
certain part of the town a single individual going along the rampart. He shewed
great dexterity in his movements, as he made his footfall perfectly noiseless,
and he often looked behind him with eyes anxiously rolling. The king said to
himself, “Without doubt this is the thief, who sallies out by himself and
plunders my city;” so he went up to him. Then the thief, seeing the king, said
to him, “Who are you,” and the king answered him, “I am a thief.” Then the
thief said, “Bravo! you are my friend, as you belong to the same profession as
myself; so come to my house, I will entertain you.” When the king heard that,
he consented, and went with him to his dwelling, which was in an underground
cavern in a forest. It was luxuriously and magnificently furnished, illuminated
by blazing lamps, and looked like a second Pátála, not governed by king Bali.
When the
king had entered, and had taken a seat, the robber went into the inner rooms of
his cave-dwelling. At that moment a female slave came and said to the king,
“Great Sir, how came you to enter this mouth of death? This man is a notable
thief; no doubt, when he comes out from those rooms, he will do you some
injury: I assure you, he is treacherous; so leave this place at once.” When the
king heard this, he left the place at once, and went to his own palace and got
ready his forces that very night.
And when
his army was ready for battle, he came and blockaded the entrance of that
robber’s cave with his troops, who sounded all their martial instruments. Then
the brave robber, as his hold was blockaded, knew that his secret had been
discovered, and he rushed out to fight, determined to die. And when he came
out, he displayed superhuman prowess in battle; alone, armed with sword and
shield, he cut off the trunks of elephants, he slashed off the legs of horses,
and lopped off the heads of soldiers. When he had made this havoc among the
soldiers, the king himself attacked him. And the king, who was a skilful
swordsman, by a dexterous trick of fence forced his sword from his hand, and
then the dagger which he drew; and as he was now disarmed, the king threw away
his own weapon, and grappling with him, flung him on the earth, and captured
him alive. And he brought him back as a prisoner to his own capital, with all
his wealth. And he gave orders that he should be put to death by impalement
next morning.
Now, when
that robber was being conducted with beat of drum to the place of execution,
that merchant’s daughter Ratnavatí saw him from her palace. Though he was
wounded, and his body was begrimed with dust, she was distracted with love as
soon as she saw him, so she went and said to her father Ratnadatta, “I select
as my husband this man here, who is being led off to execution, so ransom him
from the king, my father; if you will not, I shall follow him to the other
world.” When her father heard this he said, “My daughter, what is this that you
say? Before you would not accept suitors endowed with all virtues, equal to the
god of love. How comes it that you are now in love with an infamous brigand
chief?” Though her father used this argument, and others of the same kind with
her, she remained fixed in her determination. Then the merchant went quickly to
the king, and offered him all his wealth, if he would grant the robber his
life. But the king would not make over to him, even for hundreds of crores of
gold pieces, that thief who had robbed on such a gigantic scale, and whom he
had captured at the risk of his own life. Then the father returned
disappointed, and his daughter made up her mind to follow the thief to the
other world, though her relations tried to dissuade her; so she bathed, and got
into a palanquin, and went to the spot where his execution was taking place,
followed by her father and mother and the people, all weeping.
In the
meanwhile the robber had been impaled by the executioners, and as his life was
ebbing away on the stake, he saw her coming there with her kinsfolk. And when
he heard the whole story from the people, he wept for a moment, and then he
laughed a little, and then died on the stake. Then the merchant’s virtuous
daughter had the thief’s body taken down from the stake, and she ascended the
funeral pyre with it.
And at that
very moment the holy Śiva, who was invisibly present in the cemetery, spake
from the air, “Faithful wife, I am pleased with thy devotedness to thy
self-chosen husband, so crave a boon of me.” When she heard that, she
worshipped and prayed the god of gods to grant her the following boon, “Lord,
may my father, who has now no sons, have a hundred, for otherwise, as he has no
children but me, he would abandon his life.” When the good woman had said this,
the god once more spake to her, saving, “Let thy father have a hundred sons!
choose another boon; for such a steadfastly good woman, as thou art, deserves something
more than this.”
When she
heard this, she said, “If the Lord is pleased with me, then let this husband of
mine rise up alive, and be henceforth a well conducted man!” Thereupon Śiva,
invisible in the air, uttered these words, “Be it so; let thy husband rise up
alive, and lead henceforth a life of virtue, and let king Víraketu be pleased
with him!” And immediately the robber rose up alive with unwounded limbs.
Then the
merchant Ratnadatta was delighted, and astonished at the same time; and with his
daughter Ratnavatí and the bandit his son-in-law, and his delighted relations,
he entered his own palace, and as he had obtained from the god the promise of
sons, he held a feast suitable to his own joy on the occasion. And when king
Víraketu heard what had taken place, he was pleased, and he immediately
summoned that heroic thief, and made him commander of his army. And thereupon
the heroic thief gave up his dishonest life, and married the merchant’s
daughter, and led a respectable life, honoured by the king.
When the Vetála, seated on the shoulder of king Trivikramasena, had told him this tale, he asked him the following question, menacing him with the before-mentioned curse; “Tell me, king, why that thief, when impaled, first wept and then laughed, when he saw the merchant’s daughter come with her father.” Then the king said; “He wept for sorrow that he had not been able to repay the merchant for his gratuitous kindness to him; and he laughed out of astonishment, as he said to himself, ‘What! has this maiden, after rejecting kings who asked for her hand, fallen in love with me? In truth a woman’s heart is an intricate labyrinth.’” When the king had said this, the mighty Vetála, by means of the magic power which he possessed, again left the king’s shoulder and returned to his station on the tree, and the king once more went to fetch him.
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