"My passion was to hurt no life, and willingly do right:
I served them with extremest care unwearied day and night.

"If this be true, etc.

"No less than sixteen thousand dames my fellow-wives have been:
Yet, brahmin, never jealousy nor anger came between.

"At their good fortune I rejoice; each one of them is dear;
My heart is soft to all these wives as though myself it were.

"If this be true, etc.

"Slaves, messengers, and servants all, and all about the place,
I give them food, I treat them well, with cheerful pleasant face.

"If this be true, etc.

"Ascetics, brahmins, any man who begging here is seen,
I comfort all with food and drink, my hands all washen clean.

"If this be true, etc.

"The eighth of either fortnight, the fourteenth, fifteenth days,
And the especial fast I keep, I walk in holy ways .

"If this be true, O holy one, so may that son be given:
But if my lips are speaking lies, then burst my head in seven."

[321] Indeed not a hundred verses, nor a thousand, could suffice to sing the praise of her virtues: yet Sakka allowed her to sing her own praises in these fifteen stanzas, nor did he cut the tale short though he had much to do elsewhere; then he said "Abundant and marvellous are your virtues"; then in her praise he recited a couple of stanzas:

"All these great virtues, glorious dame, O daughter of a king,
Are found in thee, which of thyself, O lady, thou dost sing.

"A warrior, born of noble blood, all glorious and wise,
Videha's righteous emperor, thy son, shall soon arise."

When these words she heard, in great joy she recited two stanzas, putting a question to him:

[322]"Unkempt, with dust and dirt begrimed, high-poised in the sky,
Thou speakest in a lovely voice that pricks me to the heart.

"Art thou a mighty god, O sage and dwellst in heaven on high?
O tell me whence thou comest here, O tell me who thou art!"

He told her in six stanzas:

"Sakka the Hundred-eyed thou seest, for so the gods me call
When they are wont to assemble in the heavenly judgement hall.

"When women virtuous, wise, and good here in the world are found,
True wives, to husband's mother kind even as in duty bound ,

"When such a woman wise of heart and good in deed they know,
To her, though woman, they divine, the gods themselves will go.

"So lady, thou, through worthy life, through store of good deeds done,
A princess born, all happiness the heart can wish, hast won.

"So thou dost reap thy deeds, princess, by glory on the earth,
And after in the world of gods a new and heavenly birth.