thou look so pale through fear and enhance
the joy of thy foes? As yet thou hast done nothing on the field of battle
with the enemy. It was thou that hadst ordered me, saying, Take me
towards the Kauravas. I will, therefore, take thee, thither where those
innumerable flags are. I will certainly take thee, O mighty-armed one,
into the midst of the hostile Kurus, prepared to fight as they are for
the kine like hawks for meat. I would do this, even if I regarded them to
have come hither for battling for a much higher stake such as the
sovereignty of the earth. Having, at the time of setting out, talked
before both men and women so highly of thy manliness, why wouldst thou
desist from the fight? If thou shouldst return home without recapturing
the kine, brave men and even women, when they meet together, will laugh
at thee (in derision). As regards myself, I cannot return to the city
without having rescued the kine, applauded as I have been so highly by
the Sairindhri in respect of my skill in driving cars. It is for those
praises by the Sairindhri and for those words of thine also (that I have
come). Why should I not, therefore, give battle to the Kurus? (As regards
thyself), be thou still.'

"Uttara said, 'Let the Kurus rob the Matsyas of all their wealth. Let
men and women, O Vrihannala, laugh at me. Let my kine perish, let the
city be a desert. Let me stand exposed before my father. Still there is
no need of battle.'"

Vaisampayana continued, "Saying this, that much affrighted prince decked
in ear-ring jumped down from his car, and throwing down his bow and
arrows began to flee, sacrificing honour and pride. Vrihannala, however,
exclaimed, 'This is not the practice of the brave, this flight of a
Kshatriya from the field of battle. Even death in battle is better than
flight from fear.' Having said this, Dhananjaya, the son of Kunti, coming
down from that excellent car ran after that prince thus running away, his
own long braid and pure red garments fluttering in the air. And some
soldiers, not knowing that it was Arjuna who was thus running with his
braid fluttering in the air, burst out into laughter at the sight. And
beholding him thus running, the Kurus began to argue, 'Who is this
person, thus disguised like fire concealed in ashes? He is partly a man
and partly a woman. Although bearing a neuter form, he yet resembleth
Arjuna. His are the same head and neck, and his the same arms like unto a
couple of maces. And th