[303] Thus did she, alarmed with fear of death, idly lament before her mother. And the Madda king issued an order that the executioner should come with his axe and block . His coming was noised abroad throughout the palace. The queen-mother, on hearing of his arrival, arose from her throne and overwhelmed with sorrow came into the presence of the king.

The Master, to make the matter clear, said:

Seeing the sword and block set out within the fatal ring,
All goddess-like the royal dame rose up and sought the king.

[304] Then the queen spoke this stanza:

With this sword will the Madda king his graceful daughter slay,
And piecemeal send her mangled limbs to rival chiefs a prey.

The king tried to pacify her and said, "Lady, what is this you say? Your daughter rejected the chief king of all India on the plea of his ugliness, and, accepting death as her fate, returned home before the prints of her feet were well wiped out on the road by which she had gone there. Now therefore let her reap the consequences of the jealousy excited by her beauty." The queen, after hearing what he had to say, went to her daughter and lamenting spoke thus:

Thou didst not hearken to my voice, when counselling thy good,
To-day thou sink'st to Yama's realm, thy body stained with blood.

Such fate doth every man incur, or even a worse end,
Who deaf to good advice neglects the warnings of a friend.

If thou to-day a gallant prince for thy good lord shouldst wed,
Bedight with zone of gold and gems, in land of Kusa bred,
Thou wouldst not, served with hosts of friends, to Yama's realms have sped.

When drums are beat and elephants' loud trumpetings resound,
In royal halls, where in this world can greater bliss be found?

When horses neigh and minstrels play to kings some plaintive air,
With bliss like this in royal halls, what is there to compare?

When too courts with the peacock's and the heron's cries resound,
And cuckoo's call, where else, I pray, can bliss like this be found?

[305] After thus talking with her in all these stanzas she thought, "If only king Kusa were here to-day, he would put to flight these seven kings and after freeing my daughter from her misery he would carry her away with him," and she repeated this stanza:

Where's he that crushes hostile realms and vanquishes his foes?
Kusa, the noble and the wise, would free us from our woes.

Then Pabhavati thought, "My mother's tongue is not equal to proclaiming the praises of Kusa. I will let her know that he has been living here, occupied with the work of a cook," and she repeated this stanza:

The conqueror who crushes all his foes, lo! here is he;
Kusa, so noble and so wise, all foes will slay for me.