At that moment Shell-crest returned from his worship of Shiva.He saw the rock stained with blood, and cried: "Alas for me, poor sinner! Surely that noble, merciful creature has given his body to Garuda in place of mine.I must find him.Where has the great being been carried by my enemy? If I find him alive, then I shall not sink into the slough of infamy." So he followed weeping the broad trail of blood.
Now Garuda noticed that Cloud-chariot was happy while being eaten, and he thought: "This must be some strange, great being, for he is happy while I am eating him.He does not die, and what remains of him is thrilled with delight.And he turns a gracious, benevolent look upon me.Surely, he is no serpent, but some great spirit.I will stop eating him and ask him."But while he reflected, Cloud-chariot said: "O king of birds, why do you stop? There is still some flesh and blood on me, and I see that you are not satisfied.Pray continue to eat."When the king of birds heard these remarkable words, he said: "Youare no serpent.Tell me who you are."
But Cloud-chariot continued to urge him: "Certainly I am a serpent.What does the question mean? Continue your meal.What fool would begin a thing and then stop?"At that moment Shell-crest shouted from afar: "O Garuda, do not commit a great and reckless crime.What madness is this? He is not a serpent.I am the serpent."And he ran between them and spoke again to the agitated bird: "O Garuda, what madness is this? Do you not see that I have the hood and the forked tongue? Do you not see how gentle his appearance is?"While he was speaking, Cloud-chariot's wife Sandal and his parents hurried up.And when his parents saw how he was lacerated, they wept aloud and lamented: "Alas, my son! Alas, Cloud-chariot! Alas for my merciful darling, who gave his life for others!"But when they cried: "Alas, Garuda! How could you do this thoughtless thing?" then Garuda was filled with remorse and thought: "Alas! How could I be mad enough to eat a future Buddha? This must be Cloud-chariot, who gives his life for others, whose fame is trumpeted abroad through all the world.If he is dead, I am a sinner, and ought to burn myself alive.Why does the fruit of the poison-tree of sin taste sweet?"While Garuda was thus deep in anxious thought, Cloud-chariot saw his relatives gathered, fell down, and died from the pain of his wounds.Then, while his grief-stricken parents were loudly lamenting, while Shell-crest was accusing himself, Sandal looked up to heaven and, in a voice stammering with tears, reproached the goddess Gauri who had graciously given her this husband: "Oh, Mother! You told me that the fairy prince should be my husband, but it is my fate that you spoke falsely."Then Gauri appeared in a visible form, and said: "Daughter, my words are not false." And she sprinkled Cloud-chariot with nectar from a jar.And straightway he stood up alive, unhurt and more beautiful than before.
As they all bent low in worship, and Cloud-chariot rose only to bend again, the goddess said: "My son, I am pleased with your gift of your own body.With my own hand I anoint you king of the fairies." And sheanointed Cloud-chariot with liquor from the jar, and then disappeared, followed by the worship of the company.And showers of heavenly blossoms fell from the sky, and the drums of the gods were joyfully beaten in heaven.
Then Garuda reverently said to Cloud-chariot: "O King, I am pleased with your more than human character.For you have done a strange thing of unparalleled nobility, to be marvelled at throughout the universe, to be written upon the walls of heaven.Therefore I am at your service.Choose from me what boon you will."The noble creature said to Garuda: "O Garuda, you must repent and eat no more serpents.And you must restore to life those that you ate before, who now are nothing but bones."And Garuda said: "So be it.I will eat no serpents hereafter.And those that I have eaten shall come to life."Then all the serpents who had been eaten down to the bones, suddenly stood up.And through the grace of Gauri all the leading fairies learned immediately the wonderful deed of Cloud-chariot.So they all came and bowed at his feet and took him, freshly anointed by the very hand of Gauri, with his rejoicing relatives and friends to the Himalaya mountain.There Cloud-chariot lived happily with his father and his mother and his wife Sandal and Friend-wealth and the generous Shell-crest.And he ruled the fairy world radiant with gems.
When the goblin had told this long, strange story, he said to the king: "O King, tell me.Which was the more self-sacrificing, Cloud-chariot or Shell-crest? If you know and do not tell, then the curse I mentioned before will be fulfilled."And the king said: "There was nothing remarkable in what Cloud- chariot did.He was prepared for it by the experiences of many past lives.But Shell-crest deserves praise.He was saved from death.His enemy had another victim, and was far away.Yet he ran after and offered his body to Garuda."When the goblin heard this, he went back to the sissoo tree.And the king returned to catch him again.
