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

255 CHAPTER XVII. The brahmin Somedut and Vickramadetea's Prime Minister arrive at Wishnuopoory as mendicants, and obtain the parrot from the king as a gift—They return to Oojein, and deliver Vickramadetea to the queen his wife—The usurper Koobjuck, wishing to initiate the queen into the mysteries of transmigration, enters into the dead body of a hare, on which Vickramadetea instantly resumes his own body, causes the hare to be destroyed, and re-ascends the throne. THE wise parrot and the good king Gopichund were one day engaged in conversing together, and they talked of the several sciences, the great benefits accruing from good government, and the necessity for leading a life of morality and virtue. After touching upon these several topics, the parrot said, "My lord, I am extremely pleased to observe that your majesty is not indifferent to your future welfare, in the midst of the wealth and grandeur with which you are surrounded. It behoves us all to have some thought of futurity. Your majesty has entered upon a very interest- ing inquiry, which, while it pleases me, has also given rise to reminiscences which it were far better had never been recalled. Your majesty spoke of a future state : sure enough we must prepare for it. This world is but transi- tory, and must sooner or later come to an end. With many, it has already ended, and those who remain will soon run out their allotted period of existence. Thousands there are, in fact they constitute by far the majority, who are content with the present,—who never look beyond this world. Alas ! what can wealth or power, rank or position, avail a man at the last extremity? Only consider, your majesty, the object for which you have been created. Con- sider again, in what will men who live solely for this world place their trust at their last end? Not in the bubble of worldly vanity—it will explode ; not in worldly pleasures—