began to murmur: "The counsellor Farsight has seduced
the king, and now he alone has all the kingly glory." And the
counsellor said to his wife, whose name was Prudence: "My dear, the
king is devoted to his pleasures, and great infamy is heaped upon me by
the people. They say I have devoured the kingdom, though in fact I
support the burden of it. Now popular gossip damages the greatest man.
Was not Rama forced to abandon his good wife by popular clamour? So
what shall I do now?"

Then his clever wife Prudence showed that she deserved her name. She
said: "My dear, leave the king and go on a pilgrimage. Tell him that
you are an old man now, and should be permitted to travel in foreign
countries for a time. Then the gossip will cease, when they see that
you are unselfish. And when you are gone, the king will bear his own
burdens. And thus his levity will gradually disappear. And when you
come back, you can assume your office without reproach."

To this advice the counsellor assented, and said to the king in the
course of conversation: "Your Majesty, permit me to go on a pilgrimage
for a few days. Virtue seems of supreme importance to me."

But the king said: "No, no, counsellor. Is there no other kind of
virtue except in pilgrimages? How about generosity and that kind of
thing? Isn't it possible to prepare for heaven in your own house?"

Then the counsellor said: "Your Majesty, one gets worldly prosperity
from generosity and that kind of thing. But a pilgrimage gives eternal
life. A prudent man should attend to it while he has strength. The
chance may be lost, for no one can be sure of his health."

But the king was still arguing against it when the doorkeeper came in
and said: "Your Majesty, the glorious sun is diving beneath the pool of
heaven. Arise. The hour for your bath is slipping away." And the king
went immediately to bathe.

The counsellor went home, still determined on his pilgrimage. He would
not let his wife go with him, but started secretly. Not even his
servants knew.

He wandered alone through many countries to many holy places, and
finally came to the Odra country. There he saw a city near the ocean,
where he entered a temple to Shiva and sat down in the court. There he
sat, hot and dusty from long travel, when he was seen by a merchant
named Treasure who had come to worship the god. The merchant gathered
from his dress and appearance that he was a high-born Brahman, and
invited him home, and ente