was to read it out before him; after which operation the man of
letters was sent into an inner room, and the petition was placed in
the hands of a second scribe. Once it so happened by the bungling
of the deceitful kayasths(clerks) that an important difference was
found to occur in the same sheet. So upon strict inquiry one
secretary lost his ears and the other his right hand. After this
petitions were rarely if ever falsified.

The Raja Vikram also lost no time in attacking the cities and towns
and villages of his enemies, but the people rose to a man against
him, and hewing his army to pieces with their weapons,
vanquished him. This took place so often that he despaired of
bringing all the earth under the shadow of his umbrella.

At length on one occasion when near a village he listened to a
conversation of the inhabitants. A woman having baked some
cakes was giving them to her child, who leaving the edges would
eat only the middle. On his asking for another cake, she cried,
"This boy's way is like Vikram's in his attempt to conquer the
world!" On his inquiring "Mother, why, what am I doing; and what
has Vikram done?" " Thou, my boy," she replied, "throwing away
the outside of the cake eatest the middle only. Vikram also in his
ambition, without subduing the frontiers before attacking the
towns, invades the heart of the country and lays it waste. On that
account, both the townspeople and others rising, close upon him
from the frontiers to the centre, and destroy his army. That is his
folly."

Vikram took notice of the woman's words. He strengthened his
army and resumed his attack on the provinces and cities, beginning