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When Bhadra Shethäni heard this, she sent a messenger and requested the merchants to visit her. The merchants were reluctant to go because if the king could not buy a shawl, how could any of the residents buy such expensive shawls! When they reached the house, Bhadra Shethäni asked, "How many shawls do you have?" They said they had sixteen shawls. She said, "Only sixteen? I need thirtytwo shawls because I have thirty-two daughters-in-law." The merchants thought she was joking believing that she would not even buy one. She said, “Please take out those shawls.” They took out the sixteen shawls. The merchants were surprised that without a second thought she bought all sixteen shawls. They were further astounded to see her tearing such precious shawls into two pieces in front of them and giving a piece to each of her daughters-in-law to wipe their feet. The merchants were stunned but left with joy. The daughters-in-law used the pieces once and threw them away.
Bhadra Shethäni buying very expensive shawls for her daughters-in-law
One of the servants at Shälibhadra's palace knew the queen so she took a piece of shawl for the queen. The queen was baffled but happy that such rich people lived in her kingdom. She told King Shrenik aboutthe shawls and he was also very proud of such rich people upholding the good name of his kingdom. Heinvited Shälibhadra to his court to honor him. When Bhadrä Shethäni found out, she went to the king andtold him that her son was very shy, and invited the king to come to their palace. King Shrenik acceptedthe invitation and went to Shälibhadra's palace. When King Shrenik reached there, he realized that hisown palace was nothing compared to Shalibhadra's palace. Bhadra Shethäni offered him a place to sit andasked Shälibhadra to come down to honor and respect the king.
Shälibhadra did not know anything about the king or his kingdom and thought that there was some sortof merchandise that his mother wanted to show him. So he said, “I do not want to see it but you go ahead and buy it." His mother said, “This is not merchandise. He is our king, our master, and you need
