en who some prince will wed!

She was so beautiful that her father decided the suitor she favored
would have to prove himself worthy of her by spanning a bow which no
one as yet had been able to bend, and by sending an arrow through a
rapidly revolving wheel into the eye of a gold fish stationed beyond
it.

Owing to the extreme loveliness of Draupadi, many rajahs flocked to
the tournament to compete for her hand, and the five Pandavs betook
themselves thither in Brahman garb. After the preliminary exercises,
the beautiful princess--to whom all her suitors had been duly
named--gave the signal for the contest to begin. The mere sight of the
huge bow proved enough to decide several of the contestants to
withdraw, but a few determined to risk all in hopes of obtaining
Draupadi's hand. No man, however, proved able to bend the bow until
Arjuna stepped forward, begging permission to try his luck. While the
rajahs were protesting that no Brahman should compete, this Pandav
spanned the bow and sent five successive shafts straight to the goal,
amid the loud acclamations of all present.

He grasped the ponderous weapon in his hand
And with one vigorous effort braced the string.
Quickly the shafts were aimed and swiftly they flew;
The mark fell pierced; a shout of victory
Rang through the vast arena; from the sky
Garlands of flowers crowned the hero's head,
Ten thousand fluttering scarfs waved in the air,
And drum and trumpet sounded forth his triumph.

The beautiful princess, captivated by the goodly appearance of this
suitor, immediately hung around his neck the crown of flowers,
although the defeated rajahs muttered a mere Brahman should not aspire
to the hand of a princess. In fact, had not his four brothers, aided
by Krishna (a divine suitor), stood beside him, and had not the king
insisted there should be no fracas, the young winner might have had a
hard time. Then, as the princess seemed perfectly willing, the wedding
was celebrated, and the five brothers returned to the humble hut where
they lived on alms, calling out to their mother that they had won a
prize! On hearing these tidings, the mother--without knowing what the
prize was--rejoined, "Share it among you," an injunction which settled
for good and all that Draupadi should be common wife to all five. But
the legend adds that this came to pass mainly because the maiden had
prayed five times for a husband, and that the gods were answering each
of