The Prince's Elopement. Whose fault was the resulting death of
his parents-in-law?
There is a city called Benares where Shiva lives. It is loved by
pious people like the soil of Mount Kailasa. The river of heaven
shines there like a pearl necklace. And in the city lived a king
called Valour who burned up all his enemies by his valour, as a
fire burns a forest. He had a son named Thunderbolt who broke the
pride of the love-god by his beauty, and the pride of men by his bravery. This prince had a clever friend, the son of a counsellor.
One day the prince was enjoying himself with his friend hunting,
and went a long distance. And so he came to a great forest. There
he saw a beautiful lake, and being tired, he drank from it with his
friend the counsellor's son, washed his hands and feet, and sat
down under a tree on the bank.
And then he saw a beautiful maiden who had come there with her
servants to bathe. She seemed to fill the lake with the stream of her
beauty, and seemed to make lilies grow there with her eyes, and
seemed to shame the lotuses with a face more lovely than the
moon. She captured the prince's heart the moment that he saw her.
And the prince took her eyes captive.