associations it revived, as to lose all control over himself and roll on the ground, uttering words of bitter lamentation. Having recovered a little, he offered the wood-cutter anything, however precious, that he might ask, if only he would tell him from whom he had got the wood. And the wood-cutter, telling him every particular with regard to it, was taken into one of the ships, to show the way back to Shakti's hut.
Shakti in the meantime was assiduous in her search after her lost treasures. She left behind her city after city, kingdom after kingdom, till by some evil influence she could not account for, she was led back into the kingdom where the hut she had lived in stood. She reached it at night, and reposed on the embankment of a tank near the palace. At dawn the wood-cutter's wife who was personating the queen, attended by her maidservants, came to the tank for a bath, and she was surprised to see Shakti there, in the ravishing splendour of her charms. At first the pseudo-queen could not recognize her whom she saw after twelve long years; but on closer inspection she found that the form before her was that of the girl whose child she had taken away. She then thought within herself, "Ah! she whom I persecuted twelve years ago is come back, surely to take revenge. She was then in rags, but now she is dressed like a princess. I must ruin her." After this soliloquy, she bade her servants kill the lady, alleging that with her beauty she might be her successful rival if perchance the king saw her. The maid-servants laid hold of Shakti by the hair, despoiled her of her garments and ornaments, and threw her into a neighbouring cave, the mouth of which they shut with a large flagstone.
Just then the sounds of Danka[1] reverberated through the precincts of the palace, and soldiers hurried to the landing place on the bank of the river to see if any belligerent power had made its appearance. And when they found that the Danka was being beaten from ships belonging to a mere merchant, they became angry at the effrontery, and seizing the
- ↑ A drum announcing the visit of a man of consequence.
