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and bowed before the prince. The prince said : 'How is it that you have been so long away?' They said : By the order of your majesty we went hence into a wood, and there we saw a lake like a sea ; and while we were in that wood we saw a maiden, who surpassed in beauty the nymphs of heaven, amusing herself with swinging; but while we were looking at her, she suddenly disappeared. Then we searched that wood tree by tree, but we could not see her; it was for this reason that we were so long away.' When the prince heard it, he was agitated with the emotion of wonder. And just at this time the sun set. So the prince dismissed them, and said his evening prayer, and, folding himself in an eiderdown quilt, went to sleep. In the morning he washed the lotus of his face, and worshipped the gods, and ordered the victorious drum to be sounded for the onward advance. All the army, when they heard the sound of the drum, began to march. The prince himself, surrounded by some princes who were his friends, having the path pointed out to him by scouts, went forward to the lake. Thereupon the prince went to that place where the maiden was seen by those who went to look for water. As fate would have it, the prince saw the maiden in the very same spot. When the prince saw her, he said to himself: 'If she is a nymph of heaven, then the eyes of Indra alone are of any use to their possessor; if she is a snake-maiden, then the king of snakes is truly the prince of fortunate ones.* Such a pearl of women is not found in this world of mortals. Is camphor produced in a salt-mine? While the prince was sunk in these reflections, the rear-guard of his army came up; and then the maiden, hearing the noise of the host, vanished. Then the army continued its march round the lake; and while the prince was searching for that fair-eyed maiden, having his heart drawn towards her by love, he saw a chaitya. Then the prince said to himself: "That fair one will be in this chaitya ;' so he went into it. And then the prince saw in that chaitya an image of the eminent Rishabha; so he * The Sanskrit word that means 'snake' means also enjoyer.'
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