Apahâravarma spoke first.

* * * * *



ADVENTURES OF APAHÂRAVARMA.


My Lord, when you had gone away with the brahman, and we were unable
to find you, I wandered about searching for you like the rest of your
friends.

One day I heard by chance of a very famous muni, living in a forest on
the banks of the Ganges, not far from Champa, who was said to have
supernatural knowledge of past and future events.

Hoping to obtain some information about you, I determined to seek him
out, and accordingly came here for that purpose. Having found the way
to his dwelling, I saw there a miserable-looking man, very unlike the
holy devotee whom I had pictured to myself. Sitting down, however,
beside this person, I said, "I have come a long way to consult the
celebrated rishi Mâríchi, having heard that he is possessed of very
wonderful knowledge. Can you tell me where to find him?"

Deeply sighing, he answered: "There was, not long ago, such a person
in this place; but he is changed--he is no longer what he was."

"How can that be?" I asked.