Note 6 — Chapter XCIX · (Vetála 25.)

When6 that minister Vikramakeśarin, meeting in the way the successful7 prince Mṛigánkadatta, after he had been long separated from him by a curse, had told him all this, he went on to say to him, “So, prince, after that old Bráhman had told me in that village this story, called the Twenty-five Tales of a Vampire, he went on to say to me, ‘Well, my son, did not that heroic king Trivikramasena obtain from the favour of a Vetála the thing that he desired? So do you also receive from me this spell, and laying aside your state of despondency, win over a chief among the Vetálas, in order that you may obtain reunion with prince Mṛigánkadatta. For nothing is unattainable by those who possess endurance; who, my son, will not fail, if he allows his endurance to break down? So do what I recommend you to do out of affection; for you kindly delivered me from the pain of the bite of a poisonous serpent.’ When the Bráhman said this, I received from him the spell with the practice to be employed with it, and then, king, I took leave of him, and went to Ujjayiní. There I got hold of a corpse in the cemetery at night, and I washed it, and performed all the other necessary processes with regard to it, and I summoned a Vetála into it by means of that spell, and duly worshipped him. And to satisfy his hunger, I gave him human flesh to eat; and being greedy for the flesh of men, he ate that up quickly, and then said to me; ‘I am not satisfied with this; give me some more.’ And as he would not wait any time, I cut off my own flesh,8 and gave it to him to please him: and that made that prince of magicians exceedingly pleased with me. Then he said to me, ‘My friend, I am much pleased now with this intrepid valour of thine, so become whole in thy limbs as thou wast before, and crave from me whatever boon thou desirest.’ When the Vetála said this to me, I answered him then and there: ‘Convey me, god, to that place where my master Mṛigánkadatta is; there is no other boon which I desire more than this.’ Then the mighty Vetála said to me; ‘Then quickly get up on my shoulder, that I may carry thee rapidly to that master of thine.’ When the Vetála said this, I consented, and eagerly climbed up on his shoulder, and then the Vetála, that was inside that human corpse, rapidly set out through the air, carrying me with him. And he has brought me here to-day, king, and when that mighty Vetála saw you on the way, he brought me down from the air, and thus I have been made to reach the sole of your foot. And I have to-day been reunited with my master, and the Vetála has departed, having accomplished what was required of him. This, O bestower of honour,9 is my great adventure, since I was separated from you by the curse of the Nága.”