And he looked at Atirupa, and laughed, rubbing his hands together, with cunning in his eyes, that resembled those of a weasel. And he said: Maharaj, as I entered, I heard thee wishing for Shri[22] to visit thee in the form of an _abhisarika_; and lo! here she is, in my form. And do not despise her, on account of my deformity: for Shri is a lady, and capricious, and comes in strange disguises. Thou knowest, that the city being dismal by reason of the obsequies, I seized my opportunity, and went away on a visit to my maternal uncle, who lives far off in a village in the wood that lies in the eastern quarter. And on my journey back, I lost my way in the wood, and went astray: and finally, growing very tired, I lay down in a thicket. And as I rested, after a while, I heard voices coming in my direction. And lying hidden, I looked out, and watched the speakers, till one of them, as I think, caught sight of my face among the trees, and took fright at its ugliness, and went away with his companion. And afterwards I rose myself and came away; and now, here I am. [Footnote 22: The goddess of Fortune and Beauty. She is the very incarnation of the _abhisarika_, since she comes of her own accord.] And Atirupa looked at him, with disappointment: and he said: O Chamu, is this thy story, and is this all? And Chamu laughed softly, and he said: Maharaj, he is a sage, who knows where to stop. But I will have compassion on thy curiosity, and this much I will tell thee in addition, that one of the speakers was a woman. And yet I am not sure about it, for if there is another woman like her in the three worlds, I will cut off my own head, and give to thee as a footstool, since it is fit for absolutely nothing else. And even as it is, I think, after all, that I must have fallen asleep in the clump of bushes, and seen her in a dream: compounding for myself a vision out of old memories of Apsarases and Yakshinis, and Nagas, and fragments of old fairy tales and stories that my mother told me long ago, when I was a child. And Atirupa looked at him with surprise: and he said: Chamu, this is very strange, and thou art not like thyself. Hast thou been eating poppy,[23] or art thou only drunk with wine? For it is no ordinary vision that could turn thee into a poet. Come now, go on. Describe for me the beauty that has awoken such emotion in a soul as dull and muddy as thy own. [Footnote 23: _Ahiphena_, "snake-foam," said by Udoy Chand Dutt in his _Materia Medica Indica_ to be derived from the Arabic _afyoon_, as it was apparently unknown in India before the Musulman invasion.]