विक्रम चरित (उज्जैन सम्राट् विक्रमादित्य - पराक्रम, न्याय एवं ३२ पुतलियों की कथा सटीक)

90 appearing before the king, and after the usual ceremonials, she ventured to touch upon the subject. The king affected much sorrow at having disappointed her, but said it was owing solely to the pressure of business involved in his kingly office,—that he would allow nothing to impede him that night, and that she might therefore fully expect him. She left the palace, quite satisfied with the explanation that had been vouchsafed to her, in the strongest hope of seeing ' the king in her house that night, and of gaining his coun- tenance and friendship, which was essential, she thought, to her future aggrandisement. At night the king, with an increased flow of spirits, directed his steps, with the same select retinue that had attended him the previous night, to the abode of the wily actress, but, to his great astonish- ment and utter dismay, he met with the same obstruction to his advance as on the former occasion. He therefore had to go back to the palace again, and defer the realisation of his wishes until another and more propitious occasion. “The actress, as before, awaited the coming of the king in anxious expectation. She re-arranged her rooms, and prepared everything for his reception, but again was she disappointed. She was outrageously angry at this second trick played upon her, as she thought, and was more rest- less than ever that night. However, as it was a mighty king she had to do with, she thought it would be neither wise nor discreet in her to vent her rage, or even by any means to let the king perceive it; so she dressed herself as usual, bestowing more than ordinary care on her toilette, and, putting on one of her deceptive guises, though all was a turbulent chaos within, proceeded to the court. When she was ushered into the private apartment of the king, where she invariably obtained an audience, she thus addressed him, ‘Your majesty is well aware that your subjects generally are not addicted to uttering falsehoods ; but if the king, who is considered to be just in all his dealings, commits this offence, no one dare interrogate him as to its justice or otherwise, even if it could be possibly justifiable,