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

261 any conference with me. He has, I know, been counting the days as they passed, and awaiting with much anxiety the expiration of the time I fixed upon." "Very well," said the parrot, "do not be alarmed, but take courage; I will endeavour to extricate you from your perilous position. I have discovered myself only to you, and you must be very careful not to divulge the secret of my being here in my present form to any one, for the least intimation on the sub- ject to Koobjuck will involve me in some other misfortune, and perhaps even cause my death." "Your majesty must know," replied the queen, "that the moment I suspected Koobjuck I prohibited him from entering my apartments. Besides, I have expressly told him that unless he practises before me the mysterious art of transmigration at the expira- tion of six months, I will never even look him in the face." The parrot then desired Bhutty to retire to his own home, telling him that on the morrow they would set about devis- ing means to effect their purpose. He said he trusted, by the aid of Providence, to return speedily to his natural form and condition, and to enter once again upon the duties of his office. Bhutty made his obeisance, and departed accordingly. The queen held the parrot in her hand with much respect and veneration; she tenderly embraced him, with tears flowing fast down her cheeks, and said, "I have been deceived indeed, but I have at last found him whom my soul holds most dear on earth. My past sufferings and heart-burnings are now more than recompensed: heaven has favored me on this occasion in a most liberal manner, for which I now offer up the outpourings of a soul full of grateful emotions and sentiments far too profound for utter- ance." She then placed the parrot in his cage, and the whole of that night was spent in conjecturing the events that the morrow would bring forth. The next morning, by sunrise, the wicked Koobjuck sent for Bhutty the minister, in whom he had great confidence, and informed him that the period of six months assigned by