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bank of a tank, I saw a Naga lass in the very prime of youth coming out of the water, She was tipsy She came to me, but I curtly declined her company At once, a Naga lad joined with her, and the two enjoyed under my very eyes in a rather shameless manner. I could no longer restrain myself, and right on the spot, I whipped both
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"After finishing his story, the king came outside his apartment, where stood a deva ready to give him a boon. The king knew not the cause of this unexpected favour So said the deva, 'I had come hither to kill thee, but thy words have opened my eyes But how, the king knew Revealing the facrs, the deva said, "The lady that you saw at the tank is my wife She has made allegations against you for having molested her chastity, and so I came to kill you But I have heard from the window the account you gave to your wife, and this has convinced me of your honesty. You are a really worthy person, and it is a rare good luck to get a chance to honour one like you'
'But I seek nothing, since I need nothing,' said the king But the deva was insistent and the king said, 'If you must give me something, then you give me the power to understand the dialect of the animals' 'Agreed,' said the deva, 'but keep it a secret If you ever divulge it, you die at once'
"Many days passed One night, the king was in the company of the queen who was applying a sandal paste on the king's person When the application was over, there still remained a small quantity of the paste in the cup, This was noticed by a pair of lizards who were seated on the wall. The she-lizard said to her partner, 'Get me the paste so that may rub it on my body and cool it' 'You are a fool,' said the male-lizard 'You are making an absurd request. I cannot honour it Don't you see that as I go near the cup, I shall surely be caught and killed Thc paste cannot be more valuable than my life' But the she-lizard protested,
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