Perceiving her purpose, the old brahmans and faithful counsellors, who
had accompanied her, endeavoured, to dissuade her, saying, "O
glorious lady, we have no certain information of the king's death:
moreover, learned astrologers have declared that the child to be born
of you is destined to become a mighty sovereign, therefore do not act
rashly or end so precious a life while the least hope remains."

Apparently influenced by these reasons, eloquently urged, the queen
remained silent, and seemed to renounce her purpose, but at midnight,
unable to sleep, and oppressed by intolerable grief, she rose up, and
evading her sleeping attendants and the guards outside, went into the
forest, and there, after many passionate lamentations and prayers that
she might rejoin her beloved husband, she formed a rope by twisting a
part of her dress, and was preparing to hang herself with it from the
branch of a tree, very near to the place where the chariot was
standing concealed by the thick foliage.

Just then the king, revived by the cool night wind, recovered
consciousness, and hearing his wife's voice, softly called her by
name. She, hardly believing her senses for joy, cried out loudly for
help, and soon brought to her assistance some of the attendants, who
carried him gently into the fort, where his wounds were dressed and
found not to be dangerous.

After a short time, more of those who had escaped joined the king; and
when he was sufficiently recovered, the charming Vasumati, instructed
by the ministers, said to him, "All your dominions are lost except
this fortress; but such is the power of fate; prosperity, like a
bubble on the water, or a flash of lightning, appears and disappears
in a moment. Former kings, Râmachandra and others, at least as great