thing is a fabrication from beginning to end. He came to my house, and my servants finding that he was a foreigner turned him out of doors,
and we sent the cloak back to the holy man who gave it him.' This decided the case against the Brâhman, and he lost both Sthagikâ and his cloak all through letting out the secret, and this may be your majesty's fate too, if you persist in your curiosity." With these words the damsel got up and went home.
Story VIII
The king was still unable to fathom the meaning of the verses, so the next day he sent for the Brâhman's daughter. She said: " Your majesty ! You should not be so importunate. A king should not be so pertinacious, whether the objects at which he aims be good or bad. Kings are as the body, and their subjects are only their limbs. Still if I obey your commands evil will befall you as it befel the merchant who lost his home and all that he had." " How was that ? " said the king. The Brâhman's daughter answered: " There is a place called Tripura, and in it lived Prince Vikrama.
