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CHAPTER ONË quickly mounted him to test whether or not his speed was equal to his matchless form. The elephant of kings, accompanied by horsemen, elephant-riders, charioteers, and infantry, left the city, bestriding the horse. The cakrin, whose courage was great, pressing both sides of the horse with his thighs, eager to see his speed, struck him with a whip. Like a boat driven by a wind behind it, urged by the whip, the horse went with excessive speed and became invisible in a moment. Although the king pulled him to turn around, the horse did not stop, but went unchecked into the forest, like the mind of a man without restraint. In the forest terrifying from cruel wild animals the horse stopped of its own accord from weariness, like a flying bird (resting) on a lake. The cakrin, who was suffering from thirst, wandered here and there, looking for water; and he saw a pool with a garland of dancing waves. The king unsaddled the horse and watered him, led him to the bank, and tied him to a tree-root with the bridle.
Then Brahmadatta himself bathed like a forest-elephant and drank the water fragrant with the perfume of lotuses as he liked. After the cakrabhịt had come out of the pool, as he was walking on the bank, he saw a Nāga-maiden with a wealth of matchless beauty and grace. While he stood astonished by her beauty, a serpent, a boa constrictor, came out of the banyan tree, like its living foot. The Nāga-maiden instantly assumed the form of a female serpent and agreed to union with the boa constrictor.
The king thought: “ Alas! This woman is extremely in love with that low serpent. Water and women seek the low. This mixing of castes can not possibly be disregarded by me, since everyone on earth must be set on the right road by the king.”
With this reflection, the king separated them, struck both with a whip and, his anger allayed, released them. They went away somewhere. The king reflected again: “Surely, a Vyantara, assuming the form of a boa constrictor, dwells (here) to dally with that Näga-maiden.” As the king was so
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