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

262 the queen would expire on that day, and that he was pre- pared to impart to her the knowledge which she was so anxious to become possessed of. He told him to go and enquire of the queen if she was prepared to receive him. The minister, in obedience to the order he had received, went to the queen and made her acquainted with Koobjuck's request. She replied that she was as anxious as ever to be initiated into the mystery, and that after the king should have satisfied her in that respect she would place herself entirely at his disposal. The minister returned and com- municated this to Koobjuck, who heard it with much plea- sure, and ordered his attendants to procure for him the dead body of some animal, no matter of what kind, or of any species of bird. They accordingly went out in search of one. The wicked Koobjuck, in the mean while, went into the queen's apartment, accompanied by the minister, and after the usual interchange of civilities they sat down. Koobjuck was priding himself on the wit and discernment he displayed in a flow of flattering encomiums he was bestowing on the queen, when the attendants whom he had sent out returned with a dead hare. Having taken the hare and placed it beside him, he addressed the queen and said, "My chaste wife! the idol of my heart!—I beg you will be pleased to cast your eyes upon me, and I will show you in a few minutes the most wonderful miracle ever witnessed." The parrot was a silent listener to all that was being said, and an observer likewise of all that was going forward,—he was concealed under the folds of the queen's garment. Koob- juck, having secured the attention of the queen, commenced to work the charm, and in a short time he left the human body, which was that of Vickramadetea, and entered the body of the hare, which began to show signs of life, and at last skipped about with all the sprightliness of life and health. The parrot, observing this, instantly cast off his body and entered that of Vickramadetea, and thus regained his own form, which had been so long forcibly kept from him by the wicked and ungrateful Koobjuck.