l in dice possessing--soon wilt rise again to bliss;
With thy consort reunited--yield not up thy soul to grief.
Thou thy kingdom, thou thy children--wilt regain, the truth I speak.
When again thou would'st behold thee--in thy proper form, O king,
Summon me to thy remembrance--and this garment put thou on:
In this garment clad resum'st thou--instantly thy proper form."
Saying thus, of vests celestial--gave he to the king a pair.[105]
And king Nala, thus instructed--gifted with these magic robes,
Instantly the king of serpents--vanished from his sight away.

BOOK XV.

Vanished thus the King of Serpents--set Nishadha's raja forth,
Rituparna's royal city--on the tenth day entered he.
Straight before the royal presence--"Vahuca am I," he said,
"In the skill of taming horses--on the earth is not my peer;
Use me, where the difficult counsel--where thou want'st the dexterous hand;
In the art of dressing viands[106]--I am skilful above all.
Whatsoe'er the art, whatever--be most difficult to do,
I will strive to execute it--take me to thy service, king."

RITUPARNA _spake_.

"Vahuca, I bid thee welcome--all this service shalt thou do,
On my horses' rapid motion--deeply is my mind engaged.
Take thou then on thee the office--that my steeds be fleet of foot,
Of my horse be thou the master--hundred hundreds is thy pay:[107]
Ever shalt thou have for comrades--Varshneya and Jivala:
With these two pursue thy pleasure--Vahuca, abide with me."
Thus addressed, did Nala, honoured--by king Rituparna long,
With Varshneya in that city--and with Jivala abide:
There abode he, sadly thinking--of Vidarbha's daughter still.
In the evening, every evening--uttered he this single verse;
"Where is she, by thirst and hunger--worn, and weary, pious still,
Thinking of her unwise husband--in whose presence is she now!"
Thus the raja, ever speaking--Jivala one night addressed;
"Who is she, for whom thou grievest?--Vahuca, I fain would hear."
[108]Answered thus the royal Nala--"To a man of sense bereft,
Once belonged a peerless lady--most infirm of word was he;
From some cause from her dissevered--went that frantic man away,
In his foolish soul thus parted--wanders he, by sorrow racked;
Night and day, and still for ever--by his parching grief consumed:
Nightly brooding o'er his sorrows--sings he this