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you will be re-united to Nala to-day.' At that very moment Dadhiparna reached the gate of the city. A man, named Mangala, * came and announced his arrival to Bhímaratha. Bhímaratha embraced the king as a friend, and gave him a splendid lodging. After Bhímaratha had made Dadhiparņa take food and other refreshments, he asked him : 'Have you a cook who can cook in the sun ? Show him to me.' Then Dadhiparņa ordered the hunchback to prepare a delicious dish. The hunchback immediately prepared it. At the request of Dadhiparņa, Bhímaratha and all his retinue ate of that delicious dish. Then Davadanti, in order to try the taste of it, had a pot full of the food brought, and took some of it. The moment she tasted the flavour, she said : * Undoubtedly this hunchback is Nala himself. Long ago, a spiritual teacher, possessing supernatural knowledge, said to me: “No one in India, except Nala, knows the art of making a delicious dish cooked in the sun." So this must certainly be Nala. As for his being at present a hunchback, there must be some special reason for that. One test of Nala is the delicious dish; but there is another also. If I am touched merely by the finger of Nala, all the hairs of my body stand on end. So let the hunchback touch me with his hand. If this test also proves successful, then, undoubtedly, this hunchback is Nala himself.' Then she asked the hunchback: ‘Hunchback, are you Nala ?'. He said: 'What similarity can there be between the broadbreasted Nala and me, a hunchback, only fit to give pain to the eyes of men ?' Nevertheless, being earnestly entreated, he touched the breast of Davadanti with his finger, and the mere touch of his finger gave her such pleasure that the hairs stood on end all over her body, and it became like a karkotaka-plant. She said : On that occasion you left me asleep; now, my husband, ouy have been seen by
* Fortunate or auspicious.
+ In the story of Shams ul din and his son, Hasan Badr ul din is discovered by his skill in cooking (Lane's Arabian Nights,' vol. i., p. 266). Bhíma disguises himself as a cook in the Virátaparvan of the Mahá. bharata. De Gubernatis (Zoological Mythology,' vol. i., p. 158) remarks that service in the kitchen is especially dear to the young hero.
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