Vikram and Vaitaal Stories-2 - Story 1-2 (Keral Version)
"Captain Sir Richard R Burton's Vikram and the Vampire: classic Hindu tales of adventure, magic and romance" / edited by his wife Isabel Burton. [etext Conversion Project, Nalanda Digital Library, NIT Calicut, Kerala State, India]

1-A Man Deceives a Woman-2

Vajramukut Arrives in Karnaatak
They arrived in Karnaatak Pradesh. They had disguised themselves as a traveler. They pitched their tents in a clear place and looked for a wise woman who could tell their fortune. The Prince asked "what it meant", the Minister's son said, "these type of women are good to be consulted."

Vikram asked - "Is this the treatise upon the subject of immorality?" "No, It is not, but I must tell my story. A person pointed towards an old woman wjo was sitting in front of her hut and was spinning her wheel. The Minister's son went to her and said - "We are travelers and are in need of a place to stay. If you give us a house we will pay you highly." She liked them, so she took them inside and said - "This hut is yours, you may live here as long as you may wish." While talking she said - "I am a wet-nurse of Padmaavatee and my son is a favorite servant of the king. Everyday I go to see her once. I live here but the king gives me money for my food."

In a few days time, Vajramukut had impressed her with his sweet behavior. One day he asked her to give a paper to the Princess when she went next. "Sure." The Prince ran to his friend to write the letter. The Minister's son took out a pink flowery paper and wrote a few lines, sealed it, drew a lotus flower on it and gave it to the Prince to give it to the woman - Lakshmee. Lakshmee took it to the Princess and said to her - "I have seen you growing till now, now I wish that you should be happily married soon. Please do read this paper which has been given to me by a most handsome boy I have ever seen."

The Princess read the letter, tore off the first word of the last stanza, and said to her - "Get you gone, O Mother of Yam, and take back this answer" Giving her that scrap of paper she further said - "to the fool who write such bad verses. Where he has learned his humanities? Never he should write such verses again." Lakshmee came back and told him everything. The Prince got confused and went to his friend. His friend consoled him - "Do not worry. The Princess is just asking where did you learn your humanities, means who are you?"

Then the Prince disclosed his identity on Lakshmee, to which she told that she already knew it. The Prince pursued her to take his message again. When she went there again, she told her that whoever Prince she met at the pond on the 5th night of the bright fortnight, the same Prince was staying with her. Hearing this the Princess rubbed sandal on her hands, slapped the woman's face and told her not to talk such foolish things in front of her.

Both Lakshmee and the Prince were again confused with this behavior of the Princess, but the Minister's son said - "When she smeared her 10 fingers with sandal, she meant that let the remaining 10 bright nights should pass, then she will meet you in the dark. And be warned that she is far too clever to make a comfortable wife." The Minister's son hated such talented intellectual and strong-minded women. He admired small, plump, laughing, chattering, un-intellectual, and material-minded women. That is why he had married an old maid, tall, thin, yellow, cold-mannered, and a conversationist woman. But more wonderful still, when he had married her, he started loving her. But the Prince rejected his advice.

After 10 days had passed, Lakshmee again went to the Princess with Prince's message. This time she made the mark of three fingers smeared with saffron. The Minister's son told that this meant the delay of three days more and then she would see him. After three days, the woman was taken to the western gate, called her "the mother of elephant's trunk" and drove her out to never come back. The Minister's son told the Prince that he was invited to see her in the night at the western gate.

Vajramukut Meets the Princess
On that day, half the day Prince spent in adorning himself." Vikram interrupted - "Are you talking about a silly girl or a Prince?" Vitaal continued - "After he got dressed, he asked his friend, how he looked, "Admirable", he got satisfied. Then he asked him how should he behave there? The friend said - "If you want to win her, you should show as if you are her master. Tell her that she loves you, tell her that you care nothing in comparison to her, so that she thinks about you only. Remember, in love, a lost opportunity is seldom, if ever, recovered. I fear that Padmaavatee is too clever for you."

After two hours had passed of the night, both arrived at the western gate, the gate was open, the watchmen was dozing, and behind him was standing a veiled woman as if waiting for somebody. Vajramukut went inside, and his friend returned home. That figure took him to the apartment. He got astonished to see the apartment. It was so  beautiful. Then came Padmaavatee, took him to a room where she made him sit down, rubbed sandal powder on his body, hung a jasmine flower garland around his neck and started fanning him. Then they talked at length.

In the daytime she hid him, and in the night they talked and enjoyed. A few days passed like this. Padmaavatee, the woman of a superior mind, was more smitten by her lover's dullness, he was such a contrast to herself. At first she did what many clever women do. She tried to please him at her best. She would smile upon him with fondness, when after wasting hours on a few lines of poetry, he would misplace all the adjectives and barbarously entreat the meter. Before long she had made out that Vajramukut had told her everything and there was a third person in the secret who had warned him that his wife would play a foul trick over her husband. And she had made up her mind that she would take revenge to him.

Thus taking a vow, she praised his friend a lot and became ready to become his slave. In the end she assured him that she will only love him. After a month of eating and drinking, Vajramukut's face had gone pale, he complained occasionally of headaches, and became restless and anxious. One day he thought, "I have not seen my friend for 30 days, I don't know how is he?"

At the same time the Princess came and quoted a sage - "A barren wife must be superceded by another in the 8th year; whose all children die in her 10th year; who gives birth only to daughters in her 11th year; and she who scolds should be superceded by another immediately. How can you be happy here when your mind is wandering at some other place. Why did you conceal it from me? Think better of your wife."

After this Padmaavatee ordered him to go that night and not to return until his mind was at ease. She begged him to take some sweets as a little token from his beloved. Then she brought some additional sweets for her lover and she gave an extra parcel of sugar-plums, which she made herself, for his friend.

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