At these words the Princess Sunanda was made glad, and she led the strange woman unto her own abode, where sat all her virgin handmaidens. There Damayantí dwelt for a time, waiting for her lost husband. CHAPTER XXII Nala in Exile Nala's Wanderings—The Magic Fire—King of Serpents Rescued—Nala Transformed—His Service as a Charioteer—Life in Ayodhya—The Evening Song of Sorrow—Search for Damayantí—How she was Discovered—Her Departure from Chedi—Search for Nala—A Woman's Faith—Journey to the Swayamvara—The Tree Wonder—Demon Leaves Nala's Body—The Coming of the Chariot—Damayanti's Vow. Soon after Nala had fled into the forest depths, deserting the faithful Damayantí, he beheld a great fire which blazed furiously. As he drew nigh he heard a voice crying over and over again from the midst of the sacred flames: “Hasten, Nala! Oh, hasten, Nala, and come hither!” Now, Agni had given Nala power over fire, so crying: “Have no fear,” he leapt through the flames.... In the space within that blazing circle be beheld the king of serpents lying coiled up in a ring with folded hands and unable to move.[312] “Lo! I am Karkotaka,” the serpent said, “and am suffering this punishment because that I deceived the holy sage Nárada, who thereupon cursed me, saying: ‘Thou wilt remain here in the midst of the flames until Nala cometh nigh to free thee from my curse’.... So do I lie without power to move. O mighty rajah, if thou wilt rescue me even now, I will reward thee abundantly with my noble friendship, and help thee to attain great happiness. Oh lift me all speedily from out of this fiery place, thou noble rajah!” [312] This serpent was a demi-god with human face and hands. It ruled its kind in the underworld, and recalls the Egyptian king serpent in the story of the shipwrecked sailor.—See _Egyptian Myth and Legend_. It is also called Vasuka and Shesha. When he had spoken thus, Karkotaka, king of the serpents, shrank to the size of a man's finger, whereupon Nala uplifted and carried him safely through the flames to a cool and refreshing space without. The serpent then said: “Now walk on and count thy steps, so that good fortune may be assured to thee.” Nala walked nine steps, but ere he could take the tenth the serpent bit him, whereat the rajah was suddenly transformed into a misshapen dwarf with short arms.