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here.' On the second night, the whole thing went on just as before. Then, on the third night, the king stood with intent heart in a part of the room not lit up by the lamp, and beheld all the actions of Arámaçobhá; then he said to himself in the fulness of his joy: This is certainly the queen.' At that moment Arámaçobhá left the palace of her son. In the morning the king said to the sister of Árámaçobhá: To-day you must without fail summon the garden; there is no way out of it.' When the queen heard this her face became pale, and she said to herself: 'What answer can I give to-day?' Next night, when Árámaçobhá, after going through all the actions of the preceding night, was preparing to return, the king, who was lurking in a part of the room not lit up by the lamp, seized her hand, and said: Queen, why do you deceive me without cause?' Then Árámaçobhá said: 'King, I never deceive you; but there is a cause for my conduct.' The king said: 'What is the cause?" She answered: 'To-morrow I will tell you, but let me go now.' The king answered: You must tell me the cause now.' The queen said: 'When the cause is told you will regret all this.' But, though thus addressed by her, the king would not let her go. Then Árámaçobhá told the whole incident from the beginning, and at this moment the dawn appeared. When Arámaçobhá proceeded to bind up her hair that had become disarranged, a serpent fell from the god. When the queen saw the serpent stretched out in her hair, she was grieved, and she said:
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Ah, my father, am I, then, abandoned by thee?' When she uttered this lament in a loud voice, the king said: 'Queen, why are you so much afflicted ?' Then she told the whole incident of the serpent-prince. Then the king was very angry with that Brahman's wife, and had her. summoned, and with his own hand chastised her with strokes of a whip; but Arámaçobhá fell at his feet, and entreated the king, saying: 'My lord, spare her.' So she brought about her release from further punishment. Then the king took from her and her husband the twelve villages that he had given them, and banished both of them from his
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