* * * * * *

We now are informed how the valiant King Vikram met with the
Vampire.

It was the spring season when the Raja returned, and the Holi
festival[FN#32] caused dancing and singing in every house.
Ujjayani was extraordinarily happy and joyful at the return of her
ruler, who joined in her gladness with all his kingly heart. The
faces and dresses of the public were red and yellow with gulal and
abir,--perfumed powders,[FN#33]--which were sprinkled upon one
another in token of merriment. Musicians deafened the citizens'
ears, dancing girls performed till ready to faint with fatigue, the
manufacturers of comfits made their fortunes, and the Nine Gems
of Science celebrated the auspicious day with the most long-
winded odes. The royal hero, decked in regal attire, and attended
by many thousands of state palanquins glittering with their various
ornaments, and escorted by a suite of a hundred kingly personages,
with their martial array of the four hosts, of cavalry, elephants,
chariots, and infantry, and accompanied by Amazon girls, lovely
as the suite of the gods, himself a personification of majesty,
bearing the white parasol of dominion, with a golden staff and
tassels, began once more to reign.

After the first pleasures of return, the king applied himself
unremittingly to good government and to eradicating the abuses
which had crept into the administration during the period of his
wanderings.