In the morning he arose and went to the shrine of Gauri. And his
friend, the hermit's son, followed him and tried to comfort him. At
that moment the lovelorn Sandal came out of her house alone, for
she could not endure the separation, and crept to that lonely spot to
end her life there.

She did not see her lover behind a tree, and with eyes brimming
with tears she prayed to the goddess Gauri: "O goddess, since I
could not in this life have Cloud-chariot as my husband, grant that
in another life at last he may be my husband."

Then she tied her garment to the limb of an ashoka tree before the
goddess and cried: "Alas, my lord! Alas, Cloud-chariot! They say
your benevolence is universal. Why did you not save me?"

But as she fastened the garment about her neck, a voice from the
sky was heard in the air: "My daughter, do nothing rash.
Cloud-chariot, the future king of the fairies, shall be your
husband."

And Cloud-chariot heard the heavenly voice, and with his friend
approached his rejoicing sweetheart. The friend said to the girl:
"Here is the gift which the goddess grants you." And
Cloud-chariot spoke more than one tender word and loosed the
garment from her neck with his own hand.

Then a girl friend who had been gathering flowers there and had
seen what was happening, came up joyfully and said, while
Sandal's modest eyes seemed to be tracing a figure on the ground: