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felt shocked and distressed and tried to convey to his mother that he was aware of the sordid relationship that she had with Dirgha by putting a crow and a kokila together in a cage, or by trying to bring together an ordinary male elephant with a royal pedigree female elephant. King Dirgha warned the queen that her young son was this way trying to taunt them by bringing the cage with the two dissimilar birds in it into the harem. Therefore, he suggested before he became dangerous he should be got rid of. The queen did not much resist the suggestion since her craving for sexual enjoyment had blinded her to every other relationship, because
"Woman is the little stream that destroys families woman in this world is the field where wicked conduct grows, woman is the door to misery, woman is the womb of misfortunes. " A bad woman fevered with passion kills her fond husband, undoes her son and likewise destroys wealth and sets fire to her own house."
To the king's proposal, she only added a note that the death of the son should be so brought about that the crime would not reflect on them in any way and raise suspicion amongst the people. Dirgha assured her that she would have more sons from him and the end of Brahmadatta would be brought about like this:
"We will celebrate the marriage of the prince; along with all that is needful for it we will make ready a house built of resinous material, resting on many pillars and having a hidden entrance and exit. When after the wedding he sleeps there soundly we will do the deed unnoticed by setting fire to the house."
Accordingly, a great king's daughter was chosen to be Brahmadatta's bride and all arrangements for the wedding began. Dhanu the old minister watched every move of the king and queen carefully and felt convinced that they were doing something that needed more careful watching. He therefore told the king that he would like to retire from his duties which he would leave to his son Varadhanu and himself go away on his spiritual pilgrimages to seek welfare in the other world. The king suggested that he could
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