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By

Sir Richard F. Burton

Volume - 2

THE VAMPIRE'S FIRST STORY

Vikram and the Vampire

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In Benares once reigned a mightyprince, by name Pratapamukut, towhose eighth son Vajramukut happenedthe strangest adventure.

One morning, the young man, accompa-nied by the son of his father's pradhanor prime minister, rode out hunting, andwent far into the jungle. At last the twainunexpectedly came upon a beautiful

"tank" of a prodigious size. It was sur-rounded by short thick walls of finebaked brick; and flights and ramps ofcut-stone steps, half the length of eachface, and adorned with turrets, pen-dants, and finials, led down to the water.

The substantial plaster work and the

masonry had fallen into disrepair, andfrom the crevices sprang huge trees,under whose thick shade the breezeblew freshly, and on whose balmybranches the birds sang sweetly; thegrey squirrels chirruped joyously as theycoursed one another up the gnarled

trunks, and from the pendent llianas thelongtailed monkeys were swingingsportively. The bountiful hand of Sra-

vana had spread the earthen rampartwith a carpet of the softest grass andmany-hued wild flowers, in which werebuzzing swarms of bees and myriads ofbright winged insects; and flocks ofwater fowl, wild geese, Brahmini ducks,bitterns, herons, and cranes, male and

female, were feeding on the narrow stripof brilliant green that belted the longdeep pool, amongst the broad-leaved lo-tuses with the lovely blossoms, splash-ing through the pellucid waves, andbasking happily in the genial sun.

The prince and his friend wonderedwhen they saw the beautiful tank in themidst of a wild forest, and made manyvain conjectures about it. They dis-mounted, tethered their horses, andthrew their weapons upon the ground;then, having washed their hands and

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A MAN DECEIVES A WOMAN





faces, they entered a shrine dedicatedto Mahadeva, and there began to wor-ship the presiding deity.

Whilst they were making their offerings,a bevy of maidens, accompanied by acrowd of female slaves, descended theopposite flight of steps. They stoodthere for a time, talking and laughingand looking about them to see if any alli-

gators infested the waters. When con-vinced that the tank was safe, they dis-robed themselves in order to bathe. Itwas truly a splendid spectacle

"Concerning which the less said thebetter," interrupted

Raja Vikram in an offended tone.

—but did not last long. The Raja'sdaughter — for the principal maiden wasa princess — soon left her companions,who were scooping up water with theirpalms and dashing it over one another's

heads, and proceeded to perform therites of purification, meditation, andworship. Then she began strolling with afriend under the shade of a small mangogrove.

The prince also left his companion sit-ting in prayer, and walked forth into theforest. Suddenly the eyes of the Raja'sson and the Raja's daughter met. She

started back with a little scream. He wasfascinated by her beauty, and began tosay to himself, " O thou vile Karma,whyworriest thou me?"

Hearing this, the maiden smiled encour-agement, but the poor youth, between

palpitation of the heart and hesitationabout what to say, was so confused thathis tongue crave to his teeth. She raisedher eyebrows a little. There is nothingwhich women despise in a man morethan modesty,for mo-des-ty —

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A violent shaking of the bag which hungbehind Vikram's royal back broke off theend of this offensive sentence. And thewarrior king did not cease that disciplinetill the Baital promised him to preservemore decorum in his observations.

Still the prince stood before her withdowncast eyes and suffused cheeks:even the spur of contempt failed to

arouse his energies. Then the maidencalled to her friend, who was picking jas-mine flowers so as not to witness thescene, and angrily asked why thatstrange man was allowed to stand andstare at her? The friend, in hot wrath,threatened to call the slave, and throw

Vajramukut into the pond unless he in-stantly went away with his impudence.But as the prince was rooted to the spot,and really had not heard a word of whathad been said to him, the two womenwere obliged to make the first move.

As they almost reached the tank, thebeautiful maiden turned her head to seewhat the poor modest youth was doing.

Vajramukut was formed in every way tocatch a woman's eye. The Raja's daugh-ter therefore half forgave him his of-fence of mod ——. Again she sweetlysmiled, disclosing two rows of littleopals. Then descending to the water's

edge, she stooped down and plucked alotus. This she worshipped; next sheplaced it in her hair, then she put it inher ear, then she bit it with her teeth,then she trod upon it with her foot, thenshe raised it up again, and lastly shestuck it in her bosom. After which she

mounted her conveyance and wenthome to her friends; whilst the prince,having become thoroughly despondingand drowned in grief at separation fromher, returned to the minister's son.

"Females!" ejaculated the minister's

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son, speaking to himself in a carelesstone, when, his prayer finished, he leftthe temple, and sat down upon the tanksteps to enjoy the breeze. He presentlydrew a roll of paper from under hiswaist-belt, and in a short time was en-grossed with his study. The womenseeing this conduct, exerted themselvesin every possible way of wile to attracthis attention and to distract his soul.

They succeeded only so far as to makehim roll his head with a smile, and to re-member that such is always the customof man's bane; after which he turnedover a fresh page of manuscript. And al-though he presently began to wonderwhat had become of the prince his

master, he did not look up even oncefrom his study.

He was a philosopher, that young man.But after all, Raja Vikram, what is mortalphilosophy? Nothing but another namefor indifference! Who was ever philo-

sophical about a thing truly loved orreally hated? — no one! Philosophy,says Shankharacharya, is either a gift ofnature or the reward of study. But I, theBaital, the devil, ask you, what is a bornphilosopher, save a man of cold desires?And what is a bred philosopher but aman who has survived his desires? Ayoung philosopher? - a cold-bloodedyouth! An elderly philosopher? —a

leuco-phlegmatic old man! Much non-sense, of a verity, ye hear in praise ofnothing from your Rajaship's Nine Gemsof Science, and from sundry other suchwise fools.

Then the prince began to relate the

state of his case, saying, " O friend, Ihave seen a damsel, but whether she bea musician from Indra's heaven, amaiden of the sea, a daughter of the ser-pent kings, or the child of an earthlyRaja, I cannot say."

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"Describe her," said the statesman inembryo.

"Her face," quoth the prince, "was thatof the full moon, her hair like a swarm ofbees hanging from the blossoms of theacacia, the corners of her eyes touchedher ears, her lips were sweet with lunarambrosia, her waist was that of a lion,and her walk the walk of a king goose.

As a garment, she was white; as aseason, the spring; as a flower, the jas-mine; as a speaker, the kokila bird; as aperfume, musk; as a beauty, Kamadeva;and as a being, Love. And if she does notcome into my possession I will not live;this I have certainly determined upon."

The young minister, who had heard hisprince say the same thing more thanonce before, did not attach great impor-tance to these awful words. He merelyremarked that, unless they mounted atonce, night would surprise them in the

forest. Then the two young men re-turned to their horses, untethered them,drew on their bridles, saddled them, andcatching up their weapons, rode slowlytowards the Raja's palace. During thethree hours of return hardly a wordpassed between the pair. Vajramukutnot only avoided speaking; he neveronce replied till addressed thrice in theloudest voice.

The young minister put no more ques-tions, "for," quoth he to himself, "whenthe prince wants my counsel, he willapply for it." In this point he had bor-rowed wisdom from his father, who heldin peculiar horror the giving of unasked-

for advice. So, when he saw that conver-sation was irksome to his master, heheld his peace and meditated upon whathe called his "day-thought." It was hispractice to choose every morning sometough food for reflection, and to chewthe cud of it in his mind at times when,

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without such employment, his witswould have gone wool-gathering. Youmay imagine, Raja Vikram, that with afew years of this head work, the minis-ter's son became a very crafty youngperson.

After the second day the Prince Va- jramukut, being restless from grief atseparation, fretted himself into a fever.

Having given up writing, reading, drink-ing, sleeping, the affairs entrusted tohim by his father, and everything else,he sat down, as he said, to die. He usedconstantly to paint the portrait of thebeautiful lotus gatherer, and to liegazing upon it with tearful eyes; then he

would start up and tear it to pieces andbeat his forehead, and begin anotherpicture of a yet more beautiful face.

At last, as the pradhan's son had fore-seen, he was summoned by the youngRaja, whom he found upon his bed, look-

ing yellow and complaining bitterly ofheadache. Frequent discussions uponthe subject of the tender passion hadpassed between the two youths, andone of them had ever spoken of it sovery disrespectfully that the other feltashamed to introduce it. But when hisfriend, with a view to provoke communi-cativeness, advised a course of boiledand bitter herbs and great attention to

diet, quoting the hemistich attributed tothe learned physician Charndatta

A fever starve, but feed a cold,

the unhappy Vajramukut's fortitudeabandoned him; he burst into tears, and

exclaimed," Whosoever enters upon thepath of love cannot survive it; and if (bychance) he should live, what is life tohim but a prolongation of his misery?"

"Yea," replied the minister's son, "thesage hath said —

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The road of love is that which hath nobeginning nor end;

Take thou heed of thyself, man I erethou place foot upon it.

And the wise, knowing that there arethree things whose effect upon himselfno man can foretell —namely, desire ofwoman, the dice-box, and the drinkingof ardent spirits - find total abstinence

from them the best of rules. Yet, afterall, if there is no cow, we must milk thebull."

The advice was, of course, excellent, butthe hapless lover could not help thinkingthat on this occasion it came a little too

late. However, after a pause he returnedto the subject and said, "I have venturedto tread that dangerous way, be its endpain or pleasure, happiness or destruc-tion." He then hung down his head andsighed from the bottom of his heart.

"She is the person who appeared to usat the tank?" asked the pradhan's son,moved to compassion by the state of hismaster.

The prince assented.

"O great king," resumed the minister'sson, "at the time of going away had shesaid anything to you? or had you said

anything to her?"

"Nothing!" replied the other laconically,when he found his friend beginning totake an interest in the affair.

"Then," said the minister's son, "it will

be exceedingly difficult to get posses-sion of her."

"Then," repeated the Raja's son, "I amdoomed to death; to an early and mel-ancholy death!"

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"Humph!" ejaculated the young states-man rather impatiently, "did she makeany sign, or give any hint? Let me knowall that happened: half confidences areworse than none."

Upon which the prince related every-thing that took place by the side of thetank, bewailing the false shame whichhad made him dumb, and concluding

with her pantomime.

The pradhan's son took thought for awhile. He thereupon seized the opportu-nity of representing to his master all theevil effects of bashfulness when womenare concerned, and advised him, as he

would be a happy lover, to brazen hiscountenance for the next interview.

Which the young Raja faithfully prom-ised to do.

"And, now," said the other, "be com-

forted, O my master! I know her nameand her dwelling-place. When she sud-denly plucked the lotus flower and wor-shipped it, she thanked the gods forhaving blessed her with a sight of yourbeauty."

Vajramukut smiled, the first time for thelast month.

"When she applied it to her ear, it was asif she would have explained to thee, 'Iam a daughter of the Carnatic:and whenshe bit it with her teeth, she meant tosay that 'My father is Raja Dantawat,'who, by-the-bye, has been, is, and everwill be, a mortal foe to thy father."

Vajramukut shuddered.

"When she put it under her foot itmeant, 'My name is Padmavati.'"

Vajramukut uttered a cry of joy.

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"And when she placed it in her bosom,'You are truly dwelling in my heart' wasmeant to be understood."

At these words the young Raja startedup full of new life, and after praising withenthusiasm the wondrous sagacity ofhis dear friend, begged him by somecontrivance to obtain the permission ofhis parents, and to conduct him to her

city. The minister's son easily got leavefor Vajramukut to travel, under pretextthat his body required change of water,and his mind change of scene. Theyboth dressed and armed themselves forthe journey, and having taken some

jewels, mounted their horses and fol-

lowed the road in that direction in whichthe princess had gone.

Arrived after some days at the capital ofthe Carnatic, the minister's son havingdisguised his master and himself in thegarb of travelling traders, alighted and

pitched his little tent upon a clear bit ofground in one of the suburbs. He thenproceeded to inquire for a wise woman,wanting, he said, to have his fortunetold. When the prince asked him whatthis meant, he replied that elderlydames who professionally predict thefuture are never above ministering tothe present, and therefore that, in suchcircumstances, they are the properest

persons to be consulted.

"Is this a treatise upon the subject of im-morality, devil?" demanded the KingVikram ferociously. The Baital declaredthat it was not, but that he must tell hisstory.

The person addressed pointed to an oldwoman who, seated before the door ofher hut, was spinning at her wheel. Thenthe young men went up to her withpolite salutations and said, "Mother, weare travelling traders, and our stock is

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coming after us; we have come on in ad-vance for the purpose of finding a placeto live in. If you will give us a house, wewill remain there and pay you highly."

The old woman, who was a physiogno-mist as well as a fortune-teller, looked atthe faces of the young men and likedthem, because their brows were wide,and their mouths denoted generosity.

Having listened to their words, she tookpity upon them and said kindly, "Thishovel is yours, my masters, remain hereas long as you please." Then she ledthem into an inner room, again wel-comed them, lamented the poorness ofher abode, and begged them to lie down

and rest themselves.

After some interval of time the oldwoman came to them once more, andsitting down began to gossip. The minis-ter's son upon this asked her, "How is itwith thy family, thy relatives, and con-

nections; and what are thy means ofsubsistence?" She replied, ``My son is afavourite servant in the household of ourgreat king Dantawat, and your slave isthe wet-nurse of the Princess Padma-vati, his eldest child. From the comingon of old age," she added, "I dwell in thishouse, but the king provides for myeating and drinking. I go once a day tosee the girl, who is a miracle of beauty

and goodness, wit and accomplish-ments, and returning thence, I bear myown griefs at home.''

In a few days the young Vajramukuthad, by his liberality, soft speech, andgood looks, made such progress in

nurse Lakshmi's affections that, by theadvice of his companion, he ventured tobroach the subject ever nearest hisheart. He begged his hostess, when shewent on the morrow to visit the charm-ing Padmavati, that she would be kindenough to slip a bit of paper into the

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princess's hand.

"Son," she replied, delighted with theproposal — and what old woman wouldnot be? —"there is no need for puttingoff so urgent an affair till the morrow.Get your paper ready, and I will immedi-ately give it."

Trembling with pleasure, the prince ran

to find his friend, who was seated in thegarden reading, as usual, and told himwhat the old nurse had engaged to do.He then began to debate about how heshould write his letter, to cull sentencesand to weigh phrases; whether "light ofmy eyes" was not too trite, and "blood of

my liver" rather too forcible. At this theminister's son smiled, and bade theprince not trouble his head with compo-sition. He then drew his inkstand fromhis waist shawl, nibbed a reed pen, andchoosing a piece of pink and floweredpaper, he wrote upon it a few lines. He

then folded it, gummed it, sketched alotus flower upon the outside, and hand-ing it to the young prince, told him togive it to their hostess, and that allwould be well.

The old woman took her staff in herhand and hobbled straight to the palace.Arrived there, she found the Raja'sdaughter sitting alone in her apartment.

The maiden, seeing her nurse, immedi-ately arose, and making a respectfulbow, led her to a seat and began themost affectionate inquiries. After givingher blessing and sitting for some timeand chatting about indifferent matters,the nurse said, " O daughter! in infancy I

reared and nourished thee, now theBhagwan (Deity) has rewarded me bygiving thee stature, beauty, health, andgoodness. My heart only longs to seethe happiness of thy womanhood,afterwhich I shall depart in peace. I implorethee read this paper, given to me by the

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handsomest and the properest youngman that my eyes have ever seen."

The princess, glancing at the lotus onthe outside of the note, slowly unfoldedit and perused its contents, which wereas follows:

1. She was to me the pearl that clings To sands all hid from mortal sight,

Yet fit for diadems of kings, The pure and lovely light.

2. She was to me the gleam of sun That breaks the gloom of wintry day; One moment shone my soul upon, Then passed —how soon! - away.

3. She was to me the dreams of bliss That float the dying eyes before, For one short hour shed happiness, And fly to bless no more.

4. O light, again upon me shine;

O pearl, again delight my eyes; O dreams of bliss, again be mine! — No! earth may not be Paradise.

I must not forget to remark, parentheti-cally, that the minister's son, in order tomake these lines generally useful, hadprovided them with a last stanza in trip-licate. "For lovers," he said sagely," areeither in the optative mood, the des-

perative, or the exultative." This time hehad used the optative. For the despera-tive he would substitute:

4. The joys of life lie dead, lie dead, The light of day is quenched in gloom The spark of hope my heart hath fled

— What now witholds me from the tomb?

And this was the termination exultative,as he called it:

4. O joy I the pearl is mine again,

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Once more the day is bright and clear, And now 'tis real, then 'twas vain, My dream of bliss - O heaven is here!

The Princess Padmavati having perusedthis doggrel with a contemptuous look,tore off the first word of the last line, andsaid to the nurse, angrily, "Get theegone, O mother of Yama,O unfortunatecreature, and take back this answer"

—giving her the scrap of paper — "to thefool who writes such bad verses. Iwonder where he studied the humani-ties. Begone, and never do such anaction again!"

The old nurse, distressed at being so

treated, rose up and returned home. Va- jramukut was too agitated to await herarrival, so he went to meet her on theway. Imagine his disappointment whenshe gave him the fatal word and re-peated to him exactly what happened,not forgetting to describe a single look!

He felt tempted to plunge his sword intohis bosom; but Fortune interfered, andsent him to consult his confidant.

"Be not so hasty and desperate, myprince," said the pradhan's son, seeinghis wild grief; "you have not understoodher meaning. Later in life you will beaware of the fact that, in nine cases outof ten, a woman's 'no' is a distinct 'yes.'

This morning's work has been good; themaiden asked where you learnt the hu-manities, which being interpreted signi-fies 'Who are you?"'

On the next day the prince disclosed hisrank to old Lakshmi, who naturally de-

clared that she had always known it. Thetrust they reposed in her made herready to address Padmavati once moreon the forbidden subject. So she againwent to the palace, and having lovinglygreeted her nursling, said to her, "TheRaja's son, whose heart thou didst fasci-

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nate on the brim of the tank, on the fifthday of the moon, in the light half of themonth Yeth, has come to my house, andsends this message to thee: "Performwhat you promised; we have nowcome"; and I also tell thee that thisprince is worthy of thee: just as thou artbeautiful, so is he endowed with all goodqualities of mind and body."

When Padmavati heard this speech sheshowed great anger, and, rubbingsandal on her beautiful hands, sheslapped the old woman's cheeks, andcried, "Wretch, Daina (witch)! get out ofmy house; did I not forbid thee to talksuch folly in my presence?"

The lover and the nurse were equallydistressed at having taken the advice ofthe young minister, till he explainedwhat the crafty damsel meant. "Whenshe smeared the sandal on her ten fin-gers," he explained, "and struck the old

woman on the face, she signified thatwhen the remaining ten moonlightnights shall have passed away she willmeet you in the dark." At the same timehe warned his master that to all appear-ances the lady Padmavati was far tooclever to make a comfortable wife. Theminister's son especially hated talented,intellectual, and strong-minded women;he had been heard to describe the tor-

ments of Naglok as the compulsorycompanionship of a polemical divineand a learned authoress, well stricken inyears and of forbidding aspect, as suchpersons mostly are. Amongst woman-kind he admired — theoretically, asbecame a philosopher —the small,

plump, laughing, chattering, unintellec-tual, and material-minded. And there-fore —excuse the digression, RajaVikram —he married an old maid, tall,thin, yellow, strictly proper, cold-mannered, a conversationist, and whoprided herself upon spirituality. But

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more wonderful still, after he did marryher, he actually loved her —what an in-comprehensible being is man in thesematters!

To return, however. The pradhan's son,who detected certain symptoms ofstrong-mindedness in the Princess Pad-mavati, advised his lord to be wisewhilst wisdom availed him. This sage

counsel was, as might be guessed, mostungraciously rejected by him for whosebenefit it was intended. Then the sen-sible young statesman rated himselfsoundly for having broken his father'srule touching advice, and atoned for itby blindly forwarding the views of his

master.

After the ten nights of moonlight hadpassed, the old nurse was again sent tothe palace with the usual message. Thistime Padmavati put saffron on three ofher fingers, and again left their marks

on the nurse's cheek. The minister's sonexplained that this was to crave delayfor three days, and that on the fourththe lover would have access to her.

When the time had passed the oldwoman again went and inquired afterher health and well-being. The princesswas as usual very wroth, and havingpersonally taken her nurse to the west-

ern gate, she called her "Mother of theelephant's trunk,'' and drove her outwith threats of the bastinado if she evercame back. This was reported to theyoung statesman, who, after a few min-utes' consideration, said, "The explana-tion of this matter is, that she has in-

vited you to-morrow, at nighttime, tomeet her at this very gate.

"When brown shadows fell upon the faceof earth, and here and there a starspangled the pale heavens, the minis-ter's son called Vajramukut, who had

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been engaged in adorning himself atleast half that day. He had carefullyshaved his cheeks and chin; his musta-chio was trimmed and curled; he hadarched his eyebrows by plucking outwith tweezers the fine hairs aroundthem; he had trained his curly musk-coloured love-locks to hang gracefullydown his face; he had drawn broad linesof antimony along his eyelids, a most

brilliant sectarian mark was affixed tohis forehead, the colour of his lips hadbeen heightened by chewing betel-nut—

"One would imagine that you are talkingof a silly girl, not of a prince, fiend!" in-

terrupted Vikram, who did not wish hisson to hear what he called these fopper-ies and frivolities.

— and whitened his neck by having itshaved (continued the Baital, speakingquickly, as if determined not to be inter-

rupted), and reddened the tips of hisears by squeezing them, and made histeeth shine by rubbing copper powderinto the roots, and set off the delicacy ofhis fingers by staining the tips withhenna. He had not been less careful withhis dress: he wore a well-arranged tur-band, which had taken him at least twohours to bind, and a rich suit of brownstuff chosen for the adventure he was

about to attempt, and he hung about hisperson a number of various weapons, soas to appear a hero — which youngdamsels admire.

Vajramukut asked his friend how helooked, and smiled happily when the

other replied "Admirable!" His happi-ness was so great that he feared itmight not last, and he asked the minis-ter's son how best to conduct himself?

"As a conqueror, my prince!" answeredthat astute young man, "if it so be that

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you would be one. When you wish to wina woman, always impose upon her. Tellher that you are her master, and she willforthwith believe herself to be your ser-vant. Inform her that she loves you, andforthwith she will adore you. Show herthat you care nothing for her, and shewill think of nothing but you. Prove toher by your demeanour that you con-sider her a slave, and she will become

your pariah.

But above all things —excuse me if Irepeat myself too often —beware of thefatal virtue which men call modesty andwomen sheepishness. Recollect thetrouble it has given us, and the danger

which we have incurred: all this mighthave been managed at a tank within fif-teen miles of your royal father's palace.And allow me to say that you may stillthank your stars: in love a lost opportu-nity is seldom if ever recovered. Thetime to woo a woman is the moment you

meet her, before she has had time tothink; allow her the use of reflection andshe may escape the net. And afteravoiding the rock of Modesty, fall not, Iconjure you, into the gulf of Security. Ifear the lady Padmavati, she is tooclever and too prudent. When damselsof her age draw the sword of Love, theythrow away the scabbard of Precaution.But you yawn —I weary you —it is time

for us to move."

Two watches of the night had passed,and there was profound stillness onearth. The young men then walked qui-etly through the shadows, till theyreached the western gate of the palace,

and found the wicket ajar. The minister'sson peeped in and saw the porterdozing, stately as a Brahman deep inthe Vedas, and behind him stood aveiled woman seemingly waiting forsomebody. He then returned on tiptoeto the place where he had left his

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master, and with a parting cautionagainst modesty and security, bade himfearlessly glide through the wicket. Thenhaving stayed a short time at the gatelistening with anxious ear, he went backto the old woman's house.

Vajramukut penetrating to the staircase,felt his hand grasped by the veiledfigure, who motioning him to tread

lightly, led him quickly forwards. Theypassed under several arches, throughdim passages and dark doorways, till atlast running up a flight of stone stepsthey reached the apartments of theprincess.

Vajramukut was nearly fainting as theflood of splendour broke upon him. Re-covering himself he gazed around therooms, and presently a tumult of delightinvaded his soul, and his body bristledwith joy. The scene was that of fairyland.Golden censers exhaled the most costly

perfumes, and gemmed vases bore themost beautiful flowers; silver lamps con-taining fragrant oil illuminated doorswhose panels were wonderfully deco-rated, and walls adorned with pictures inwhich such figures were formed that onseeing them the beholder was en-chanted.

On one side of the room stood a bed of

flowers and a couch covered with bro-cade of gold, and strewed with freshly-culled jasmine flowers. On the otherside, arranged in proper order, wereattar holders, betel-boxes, rose-waterbottles, trays, and silver cases with fourpartitions for essences compounded of

rose leaves, sugar, and spices, preparedsandal wood, saffron, and pods of musk.Scattered about a stuccoed floor whiteas crystal, were coloured caddies of ex-quisite confections, and in others sweet-meats of various kinds. Female atten-dants clothed in dresses of various co-

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lours were standing each according toher rank, with hands respectfully joined.Some were reading plays and beautifulpoems, others danced and others per-formed with glittering fingers and flash-ing arms on various instruments —theivory lute, the ebony pipe and the silverkettledrum. In short, all the means andappliances of pleasure and enjoymentwere there; and any description of the

appearance of the apartments, whichwere the wonder of the age, is impos-sible.

Then another veiled figure, the beautifulPrincess Padmavati, came up and dis-closed herself, and dazzled the eyes of

her delighted Vajramukut. She led himinto an alcove, made him sit down,rubbed sandal powder upon his body,hung a garland of jasmine flowers roundhis neck, sprinkled rose-water over hisdress, and began to wave over his heada fan of peacock feathers with a golden

handle.

Said the prince, who despite all effortscould not entirely shake off his unhappyhabit of being modest, "Those very deli-cate hands of yours are not fit to ply thepankha. Why do you take so muchtrouble? I am cool and refreshed by thesight of you. Do give the fan to me andsit down."

"Nay, great king!" replied Padmavati,with the most fascinating of smiles, "youhave taken so much trouble for my sakein coming here, it is right that I performservice for you."

Upon which her favourite slave, takingthe pankha from the hand of the prin-cess, exclaimed, "This is my duty. I willperform the service; do you two enjoyyourselves!"

The lovers then began to chew betel,

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which, by the bye, they disposed of inlittle agate boxes which they drew fromtheir pockets, and they were soon en-gaged in the tenderest conversation.

Here the Baital paused for a while, prob-ably to take breath. Then he resumedhis tale as follows:

In the meantime, it became dawn; the

princess concealed him; and when nightreturned they again engaged in thesame innocent pleasures. Thus day afterday sped rapidly by. Imagine, if you can,the youth's felicity; he was of an ardenttemperament, deeply enamoured,barely a score of years old, and he had

been strictly brought up by serious par-ents. He therefore resigned himself en-tirely to the siren for whom he willinglyforgot the world, and he wondered at hisgood fortune, which had thrown in hisway a conquest richer than all the minesof Meru.He could not sufficiently admire

his Padmavati's grace, beauty, brightwit, and numberless accomplishments.Every morning, for vanity's sake, helearned from her a little useless knowl-edge in verse as well as prose, for in-stance, the saying of the poet —

Enjoy the present hour, 'tis thine; bethis, O man, thy law;

Who e'er resew the yester? Who themorrow e'er foresaw?

And this highly philosophical axiom —

Eat, drink, and love —the rest's notworth a fillip.

"By means of which he hoped, RajaVikram!" said the demon, not heedinghis royal carrier's "ughs" and "poohs,""to become in course of time almost asclever as his mistress."

20






Padmavati, being, as you have seen, amaiden of superior mind, was naturallymore smitten by her lover's dulnessthan by any other of his qualities; sheadored it, it was such a contrast to her-self. At first she did what many cleverwomen do —she invested him with thebrightness of her own imagination. Stillwater, she pondered, runs deep; cer-tainly under this disguise must lurk a

brilliant fancy, a penetrating but amature and ready judgment —are theynot written by nature's hand on thatbroad high brow? With such lovely mus-tachios can he be aught but generous,noble-minded, magnanimous? Can sucheyes belong to any but a hero? And she

fed the delusion.

She would smile upon him with intensefondness, when, after wasting hoursover a few lines of poetry, he would mis-place all the adjectives and barbarouslyentreat the metre. She laughed with

gratification, when, excited by thebright sayings that fell from her lips, theyouth put forth some platitude, dim asthe lamp in the expiring fire-fly. Whenhe slipped in grammar she saw maliceunder it, when he retailed a borrowed

jest she called it a good one, and whenhe used —as princes sometimes will—bad language, she discovered in it acharming simplicity.

At first she suspected that the strata-gems which had won her heart were theresults of a deep-laid plot proceedingfrom her lover. But clever women areapt to be rarely sharp-sighted in everymatter which concerns themselves. She

frequently determined that a third wasin the secret. She therefore made no al-lusion to it. Before long the enamouredVajramukut had told her everything, be-ginning with the diatribe against lovepronounced by the minister's son, andending with the solemn warning that

21






she, the pretty princess, would someday or other play her husband a foultrick.

"If I do not revenge myself upon him,"thought the beautiful Padmavati, smil-ing like an angel as she listened to theyouth's confidence, "may I become agardener's ass in the next birth!"

Having thus registered a vow, she brokesilence, and praised to the skies theyoung pradhan's wisdom and sagacity;professed herself ready from gratitudeto become his slave, and only hopedthat one day or other she might meetthat true friend by whose skill her soul

had been gratified in its dearest desire."Only," she concluded, "I am convincedthat now my Vajramukut knows everycorner of his little Padmavati's heart, hewill never expect her to do anything butlove, admire, adore and kiss him!'' Thensuiting the action to the word, she con-

vinced him that the young minister hadfor once been too crabbed and cynic inhis philosophy.

But after the lapse of a month Vajramu-kut, who had eaten and drunk and slepta great deal too much, and who had notonce hunted, became bilious in bodyand in mind melancholic. His faceturned yellow, and so did the whites ofhis eyes; he yawned, as liver patientsgenerally do, complained occasionallyof sick headaches, and lost his appetite:he became restless and anxious, andonce when alone at night he thusthought aloud: "I have given up country,throne, home, and everything else, but

the friend by means of whom this happi-ness was obtained I have not seen forthe long length of thirty days. What willhe say to himself, and how can I knowwhat has happened to him?"

In this state of things he was sitting, and

22






in the meantime the beautiful princessarrived. She saw through the matter,and lost not a moment in entering uponit. She began by expressing her aston-ishment at her lover's fickleness andfondness for change, and when he wasready to wax wroth, and quoted thewords of the sage, "A barren wife maybe superseded by another in the eighthyear; she whose children all die, in the

tenth; she who brings forth only daugh-ters, in the eleventh; she who scolds,without delay," thinking that she alludedto his love, she smoothed his temper byexplaining that she referred to his for-getting his friend.

"How is it possible, O my soul," sheasked with the softest of voices, thatthou canst happiness here whilst thyheart is wandering there? Why didstthou conceal this from me, O astuteone? Was it for fear of distressing me?

Think better of thy wife than to suppose

that she would ever separate thee fromone to whom we both owe so much!

"After this Padmavati advised, nay or-dered, her lover to go forth that night,and not to return till his mind was quiteat ease, and she begged him to take afew sweetmeats and other trifles as alittle token of her admiration and regardfor the clever young man of whom shehad heard so much.

Vajramukut embraced her with a trans-port of gratitude, which so inflamed heranger, that fearing lest the cloak of con-cealment might fall from her counte-nance, she went away hurriedly to find

the greatest delicacies which her comfitboxes contained. Presently she re-turned, carrying a bag of sweetmeats ofevery kind for her lover, and as he roseup to depart, she put into his hand alittle parcel of sugar-plums especially in-tended for the friend; they were made

23







up with her own delicate fingers, andthey would please, she flattered herself,even his discriminating palate.

The young prince, after enduring anumber of farewell embraces and hop-ings for a speedy return ,and last wordsever beginning again, passed safelythrough the palace gate, and with a re-lieved aspect walked briskly to thehouse of the old nurse. Although it was

midnight his friend was still sitting on hismat.

The two young men fell upon one an-other's bosoms and embraced affection-ately. They then began to talk of mat-ters nearest their hearts. The Raja's son

wondered at seeing the jaded and hag-gard looks of his companion, who didnot disguise that they were caused byhis anxiety as to what might have hap-pened to his friend at the hand of so tal-ented and so superior a princess. Uponwhich Vajramukut, who now thought

Padmavati an angel, and his late abodea heaven, remarked with formality —and two blunders to one quotation—that abilities properly directed win fora man the happiness of both worlds.

The pradhan's son rolled his head.

"Again on your hobby-horse, nagging attalent whenever you find it in others! "cried the young prince with a pun, whichwould have delighted Padmavati."Surely you are jealous of her!" he re-sumed, anything but pleased with thedead silence that had received his joke;"jealous of her cleverness, and of herlove for me. She is the very best crea-

ture in the world. Even you, woman-hater as you are, would own it if youonly knew all the kind messages shesent, and the little pleasant surprise thatshe has prepared for you. There! takeand eat; they are made by her own dearhands!" cried the young Raja, producing

24







the sweetmeats. "As she herself taughtme to say -

Thank God I am a man,

Not a philosopher!"

"The kind messages she sent me! Thepleasant surprise she has prepared forme!" repeated the minister's son in ahard, dry tone. "My lord will be pleasedto tell me how she heard of my name?"

"I was sitting one night," replied theprince, "in anxious thought about you,when at that moment the princesscoming in and seeing my condition,asked, 'Why are you thus sad? Explain

the cause to me.' I then gave her an ac-count of your cleverness, and when sheheard it she gave me permission to goand see you, and sent these sweet-meats for you: eat them and I shall bepleased."

"Great king!" rejoined the young states-man, "one thing vouchsafe to hear fromme. You have not done well in that youhave told my name. You should never

let a woman think that your left handknows the secret which she confided toyour right, much less that you haveshared it to a third person. Secondly,you did evil in allowing her to see the af-fection with which you honour your un-worthy servant —a woman ever hatesher lover's or husband's friend."

"What could I do?" rejoined the youngRaja, in a querulous tone of voice."When I love a woman I like to tell hereverything —to have no secrets from

her —to consider her another self ——"

"Which habit," interrupted the pradhan'sson, "you will lose when you are a littleolder, when you recognize the fact thatlove is nothing but a bout, a game ofskill between two individuals of opposite

25







sexes: the one seeking to gain as much,and the other striving to lose as little aspossible; and that the sharper of thetwain thus met on the chessboard must,

in the long run, win. And reticence is buta habit. Practise it for a year, and youwill find it harder to betray than to con-ceal your thoughts. It hath its joy also. Isthere no pleasure, think you, when sup-pressing an outbreak of tender but fatalconfidence in saying to yourself, 'O, ifshe only knew this?' 'O, if she did butsuspect that?' Returning, however, tothe sugar-plums, my life to a pariah'sthat they are poisoned!"

"Impossible!" exclaimed the prince,

horror-struck at the thought; "what yousay, surely no one ever could do. If amortal fears not his fellow-mortal, atleast he dreads the Deity."

"I never yet knew," rejoined the other,"what a woman in love does fear. How-

ever, prince, the trial is easy. Comehere, Muti!" cried he to the old woman'sdog, "and off with thee to that three-headed kinsman of thine, that attends

upon his amiable-looking master."

Having said this, he threw one of thesweetmeats to the dog; the animal ateit, and presently writhing and fallingdown, died.

"The wretch! O the wretch!" cried Va- jramukut, transported with wonder andanger. " And I loved her! But now it is allover. I dare not associate with such a ca-lamity!"

"What has happened, my lord, has hap-pened!" quoth the minister's son calmly."I was prepared for something of thiskind from so talented a princess. Nonecommit such mistakes, such blunders,such follies as your clever women; theycannot even turn out a crime decently

26







executed. O give me dulness with oneidea, one aim, one desire. O thriceblessed dulness that combines with hap-piness, power."

This time Vajramukut did not defendtalent.

"And your slave did his best to warn youagainst perfidy. But now my heart is atrest. I have tried her strength. She hasattempted and failed; the defeat willprevent her attempting again —just yet.But let me ask you to put to yourself onequestion. Can you be happy withouther?"

"Brother!" replied the prince, after apause, "I cannot"; and he blushed as hemade the avowal.

"Well," replied the other, "better confessthen conceal that fact; we must nowmeet her on the battle-field, and beat

her at her own weapons —cunning. I donot willingly begin treachery withwomen, because, in the first place, Idon't like it; and secondly, I know that

they will certainly commence practicingit upon me, after which I hold myself jus-tified in deceiving them. And probablythis will be a good wife; remember thatshe intended to poison me, not you.During the last month my fear has beenlest my prince had run into the tiger'sbrake. Tell me, my lord, when does theprincess expect you to return to her?"

"She bade me," said the young Raja,"not to return till my mind was quite atease upon the subject of my talented

friend."

"This means that she expects you backto-morrow night, as you cannot enterthe palace before. And now I will retireto my cot, as it is there that I am wont toponder over my plans. Before dawn my

27







thought shall mature one which mustplace the beautiful Padmavati in yourpower."

"A word before parting," exclaimed theprince "you know my father has alreadychosen a spouse for me; what will he sayif I bring home a second? "

"In my humble opinion," said the minis-ter's son rising to retire, "woman is amonogamous, man a polygamous, crea-ture, a fact scarcely established inphysio- logical theory, but very observ-able in every-day practice For what saidthe poet? — Divorce, friend! Re-wedthee! The spring draweth near,And a

wife's but an almanac —good for theyear.

If your royal father say anything to you,refer him to what he himself does."

Reassured by these words, Vajramukut

bade his friend a cordial good-night andsought his cot, where he slept soundly,despite the emotions of the last fewhours. The next day passed somewhat

slowly. In the evening, when accompa-nying his master to the palace, the min-ister's son gave him the following direc-tions.

"Our object, dear my lord, is how toobtain possession of the princess. Take,then, this trident, and hide it carefullywhen you see her show the greatestlove and affection. Conceal what hashappened, and when she, wondering atyour calmness, asks about me, tell herthat last night I was weary and out of

health, that illness prevented my eatingher sweetmeats, but that I shall eatthem for supper to-night. When shegoes to sleep, then, taking off her jewelsand striking her left leg with the trident,instantly come away to me. But shouldshe lie awake, rub upon your thumb a

28







little of this —do not fear, it is only apowder of grubs fed on verdigris — andapply it to her nostrils. It would make anelephant senseless, so be careful how

you approach it to your own face."

Vajramukut embraced his friend, andpassed safely through the palace gate.He found Padmavati awaiting him; shefell upon his bosom and looked into hiseyes, and deceived herself, as cleverwomen will do. Overpowered by her joyand satisfaction, she now felt certainthat her lover was hers eternally, andthat her treachery had not been discov-ered; so the beautiful princess fell into adeep sleep.

Then Vajramukut lost no time in doingas the minister's son had advised, andslipped out of the room, carrying offPadmavati's jewels and ornaments. Hiscounsellor having inspected them, tookup a sack and made signs to his master

to follow him. Leaving the horses andbaggage at the nurse's house, theywalked to a burning-place outside thecity. The minister's son there buried his

dress, together with that of the prince,and drew from the sack the costume ofa religious ascetic: he assumed this him-self, and gave to his companion that of adisciple. Then quoth the guru (spiritualpreceptor) to his chela (pupil), "Go,youth, to the bazar, and sell these

jewels, remembering to let half the jew-ellers in the place see the things, and ifany one lay hold of thee, bring him tome."

Upon which, as day had dawned, Va-

jramukut carried the princess's orna-ments to the market, and entering thenearest goldsmith's shop, offered to sellthem, and asked what they were worth.As your majesty well knows, gardeners,tailors, and goldsmiths are proverbiallydishonest, and this man was no excep-

29







tion to the rule. He looked at the pupil'sface and wondered, because he hadbrought articles whose value he did notappear to know. A thought struck him

that he might make a bargain whichwould fill his coffers, so he offered abouta thousandth part of the price.

This the pupil rejected, because hewished the affair to go further. Then thegoldsmith, seeing him about to depart,sprang up and stood in the door way,threatening to call the officers of justiceif the young man refused to give up thevaluables which he said had lately beenstolen from his shop. As the pupil onlylaughed at this, the goldsmith thought

seriously of executing his threat, hesi-tating only because he knew that the of-ficers of justice would gain more than hecould by that proceeding. As he was stillin doubt a shadow darkened his shop,and in entered the chief jeweller of thecity. The moment the ornaments were

shown to him he recognized them, andsaid, "These jewels belong to Raja Dan-tawat's daughter; I know them well, as Iset them only a few months ago!" Then

he turned to the disciple, who still heldthe valuables in his hand, and cried,"Tell me truly whence you receivedthem?"

While they were thus talking, a crowd often or twenty persons had collected,and at length the report reached the su-perintendent of the archers. He sent asoldier to bring before him the pupil, thegoldsmith, and the chief jeweller, to-gether with the ornaments. And when allwere in the hall of justice, he looked at

the jewels and said to the young man,"Tell me truly, whence have you ob-tained these?"

"My spiritual preceptor," said Vajramu-kut, pretending great fear, "who is nowworshipping in the cemetery outside the

30







town, gave me these white stones, withan order to sell them. How know Iwhence he obtained them? Dismiss me,my lord, for I am an innocent man."

"Let the ascetic be sent for," com-manded the kotwal. Then, having takenboth of them, along with the jewels, intothe presence of King Dantawat, he re-lated the whole circumstances.

"Master," said the king on hearing thestatement, "whence have you obtainedthese jewels?"

The spiritual preceptor, before deigningan answer, pulled from under his arm

the hide of a black antelope, which hespread out and smoothed deliberatelybefore using it as an asan. He thenbegan to finger a rosary of beads eachas large as an egg, and after spendingnearly an hour in mutterings and in roll-ings of the head, he looked fixedly at the

Raja, and repined:

"By Shiva! great king, they are mineown. On the fourteenth of the dark half

of the moon at night, I had gone into aplace where dead bodies are burned, forthe purpose of accomplishing a witch'sincantation. After long and toilsomelabour she appeared, but her demean-our was so unruly that I was forced tochastise her. I struck her with this, mytrident, on the left leg, if memory servesme. As she continued to be refractory, inorder to punish her I took off all her

jewels and clothes, and told her to gowhere she pleased. Even this had littleeffect upon her —never have I looked

upon so perverse a witch. In this way the jewels came into my possession."

Raja Dantawat was stunned by thesewords. He begged the ascetic not toleave the palace for a while, and forth-with walked into the private apartments

31







of the women. Happening first to meetthe queen dowager, he said to her, "Go,without losing a minute, O my mother,and look at Padmavati's left leg, and see

if there is a mark or not, and what sort ofa mark!" Presently she returned, andcoming to the king said, "Son, I find thydaughter lying upon her bed, and com-plaining that she has met with an acci-dent; and indeed Padmavati must be ingreat pain. I found that some sharp in-strument with three points hadwounded her. The girl says that a nailhurt her, but I never yet heard of a nailmaking three holes. However, we mustall hasten, or there will be erysipelas, tu-mefaction, gangrene, mortification, am-

putation, and perhaps death in thehouse," concluded the old queen, hurry-ing away in the pleasing anticipation ofthese ghastly consequences.

For a moment King Dantawat's heartwas ready to break. But he was accus-

tomed to master his feelings; he speed-ily applied the reins of reflection to thewild steed of passion. He thought tohimself, "the affairs of one's household,

the intentions of one's heart, and what-ever one's losses may be, should not bedisclosed to any one. Since Padmavati isa witch, she is no longer my daughter. Iwill verily go forth and consult the spiri-tual preceptor."

With these words the king went outside,where the guru was still sitting upon hisblack hide, making marks with his tri-dent on the floor. Having requested thatthe pupil might be sent away, andhaving cleared the room, he said to the

jogi, "O holy man! what punishment forthe heinous crime of witchcraft isawarded to a woman in the Dharma-Shastra ?"

"Great king!" replied the devotee, "inthe Dharma Shastra it is thus written: 'If

32







a Brahman, a cow, a woman, a child, orany other person whatsoever who maybe dependent on us, should be guilty ofa perfidious act, their punishment is that

they be banished the country.' Howevermuch they may deserve death, we mustnot spill their blood, as Lakshmi flies inhorror from the deed."

Hearing these words the Raja dismissedthe guru with many thanks and largepresents. He waited till nightfall andthen ordered a band of trusty men toseize Padmavati without alarming thehousehold, and to carry her into a dis-tant jungle full of fiends, tigers, andbears, and there to abandon her.

In the meantime, the ascetic and hispupil hurrying to the cemetery resumedtheir proper dresses; they then went tothe old nurse's house, rewarded herhospitality till she wept bitterly, girt ontheir weapons, and mounting their

horses, followed the party which issuedfrom the gate of King Dantawat'spalace. And it may easily be believedthat they found little difficulty in per-

suading the poor girl to exchange herchance in the wild jungle for the pros-pect of becoming Vajramukut's wife—lawfully wedded at Benares. She didnot even ask if she was to have a rival inthe house, —a question which women,you know, never neglect to put underusual circumstances. After some daysthe two pilgrims of one love arrived atthe house of their fathers, and to all,both great and small, excess in joycame.

"Now, Raja Vikram!" said the Baital,"you have not spoken much; doubtlessyou are engrossed by the interest of astory wherein a man beats a woman ather own weapon —deceit. But I warn youthat you will assuredly fall into Narak(the infernal regions) if you do not make

33







up your mind upon and explain thismatter. Who was the most to blameamongst these four? the lover thelover's friend, the girl, or the father?"

"For my part I think Padmavati was theworst, she being at the bottom of alltheir troubles," cried Dharma Dhwaj.

The king said something about youngpeople and the two senses of seeing andhearing, but his son's sentiment was sosympathetic that he at once pardonedthe interruption. At length, determinedto do justice despite himself, Vikramsaid, "Raja Dantawat is the person mostat fault."

"In what way was he at fault? " askedthe Baital curiously.

King Vikram gave him this reply: "ThePrince Vajramukut being tempted of thelove-god was insane, and therefore notresponsible for his actions. The minis-

ter's son performed his master's busi-ness obediently, without consideringcauses or asking questions —a very ex-cellent quality in a dependent who is

merely required to do as he is bid. Withrespect to the young woman, I have onlyto say that she was a young woman, andthereby of necessity a possible murder-ess. But the Raja, a prince, a man of acertain age and experience, a father ofeight! He ought never to have been de-ceived by so shallow a trick, nor shouldhe, without reflection, have banished hisdaughter from the country."

"Gramercy to you!" cried the Vampire,bursting into a discordant shout of

laughter, "I now return to my tree. Bymy tail! I never yet heard a Raja so read-ily condemn a Raja." With these wordshe slipped out of the cloth, leaving it tohang empty over the great king's shoul-der.

34







Vikram stood for a moment, fixed to thespot with blank dismay. Presently, re-covering himself, he retraced his steps,followed by his son, ascended the sires-

tree, tore down the Baital, packed himup as before, and again set out upon hisway.

Soon afterwards a voice sounded behindthe warrior king's back, and began totell another true story.

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