The Youth who went through the Proper Ceremonies.Why did he fail to win the magic spell?
Then the king went back through the night to the cemetery filled with ghouls, terrible with funeral piles that seemed like ghosts with wagging tongues of flame.But when he came to the sissoo tree, he was surprised to see a great many bodies hanging on the tree.They were all alike, and in each was a goblin twitching its limbs.
And the king thought: "Ah, what does this mean? Why does that magic goblin keep wasting my time? For I do not know which of all these I ought to take.If I should not succeed in this night's endeavour, then I would burn myself alive rather than become a laughing-stock."But the goblin understood the king's purpose, and was pleased with his character.So he gave up his magic arts.Then the king saw only one goblin in one body.He took him down as before, put him on his shoulder, and started once more.
And as he walked along, the goblin said: "O King, if you have no objections, I will tell you a story.Listen."There is a city called Ujjain, whose people delight in noble happiness, and feel no longing for heaven.In that city there is real darkness at night, real intelligence in poetry, real madness in elephants, real coolness in pearls, sandal, and moonlight.
There lived a king named Moonshine.He had as counsellor a famous Brahman named Heaven-lord, rich in money, rich in piety, rich in learning.And the counsellor had a son named Moon-lord.
This son went one day to a great resort of gamblers to play.There the dice, beautiful as the eyes of gazelles, were being thrown constantly.And Calamity seemed to be looking on, thinking: "Whom shall I embrace?" And the loud shouts of angry gamblers seemed to suggest the question: "Who is there that would not be fleeced here, were he the god of wealth himself?"This hall the youth entered, and played with dice.He staked his clothes and everything else, and the gamblers won it all.Then he wageredmoney he did not have, and lost that.And when they asked him to pay, he could not.So the gambling-master caught him and beat him with clubs.
When he was bruised all over by the clubs, the Brahman youth became motionless like a stone, and pretended to be dead, and waited.After he had lain thus for two or three days, the heartless gambling-master said to the gamblers: "He lies like a stone.Take him somewhere and throw him into a blind well.I will pay you the money he owes."So the gamblers picked Moon-lord up and went far into the forest, looking for a well.Then one old gambler said to the others: "He is as good as dead.What is the use of throwing him into a well now? We will leave him here and go back and say we have left him in a well." And all the rest agreed, and left him there, and went back.
When they were gone, Moon-lord rose and entered a deserted temple to Shiva.When he had rested a little there, he thought in great anguish: "Ah, I trusted the rascally gamblers, and they cheated me.Where shall I go now, naked and dusty as I am? What would my father say if he saw me now, or any relative, or any friend? I will stay here for the present, and at night I will go out and try to find food somehow to appease my hunger."While he reflected in weariness and nakedness, the sun grew less hot and disappeared.Then a terrible hermit named Stake came there, and he had smeared his body with ashes.When he had seen Moon-lord and asked who he was and heard his story, he said, as the youth bent low before him: "Sir, you have come to my hermitage, a guest fainting with hunger.Rise, bathe, and partake of the meal I have gained by begging."Then Moon-lord said to him: "Holy sir, I am a Brahman.How can I partake of such a meal?"Then the hermit-magician went into his hut and out of tenderness to his guest he thought of a magic spell which grants all desires.And the spell appeared in bodily form, and said: "What shall I do?" And the hermit said: "Treat that man as an honoured guest."Then Moon-lord was astonished to see a golden palace rise before him and a grove with women in it.They came to him from the palace and said: "Sir, rise, come, bathe, eat, and meet our mistress." So they led him in and gave him a chance to bathe and anoint himself and dress.Then they ledhim to another room.
There the youth saw a woman of wonderful beauty, whom the Creator must have made to see what he could do.She rose and offered him half of her seat.And he ate heavenly food and various fruits and chewed betel leaves and sat happily with her on the couch.
