my condition. Neither thy friends nor thy brothers should know thy union
with me. I am a terror of detection by those illustrious Gandharvas.
Promise me this, and I yield to thee.' Hearing this Kichaka said, 'I
will, O thou of graceful hips, do even as thou sayest. Afflicted by the
god of love, I will, O beauteous damsel, alone repair to thy abode for
union with thee, O thou of thighs round and tapering like the trunks of
the plantain,--so that those Gandharvas, effulgent as the sun, may not
come to know of this act of thine.' Draupadi said, 'Do thou, when it is
dark, go to the dancing-hall erected by the king of the Matsyas where
the girls dance during the day, repairing to their respective homes at
night. The Gandharvas do not know that place. We shall then without
doubt, escape all censure.'"

Vaisampayana continued, "Reflecting on the subject of her conversation
with Kichaka, that half a day seemed to Krishna as long as a whole
month. And the stupid Kichaka also, not knowing that it was Death that
had assumed the form of a _Sairindhri_, returning home experienced the
greatest delight. And deprived of sense by lust, Kichaka became speedily
engaged in embellishing his person with unguents and garlands and
ornaments. And while he was doing all this, thinking of that damsel of
large eyes, the day seemed to him to be without an end. And the beauty
of Kichaka, who was about to forsake his beauty for ever, seemed to
heighten, like the wick of a burning lamp about to expire. And reposing
the fullest confidence in Draupadi, Kichaka, deprived of his senses by
lust and absorbed in the contemplation of expected meeting, did not even
perceive that the day had departed. Meanwhile, the beautiful Draupadi
approaching her husband Bhima of the Kuru race, stood before him in the
kitchen. And that lady with tresses ending in beautiful curls then spake
unto him, saying, 'O chastiser of foes, even as thou hadst directed, I
have given Kichaka to understand that our meeting will take place in the