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

263 No sooner did Vickramadetea assume his natural body, than he ordered the attendants to catch the hare. This command, so terrible to the hare, resounded throughout the palace, and was echoed from mouth to mouth,—in fact they had all been in some degree prepared for it. The hare instantly skipped off, and hid himself in the kitchen, but his pursuers followed him there, with shouts and cries, and so belaboured him with the sticks with which they had provided themselves as speedily to put an end to his existence. They then brought the body to Vickramadetea, who ordered it to be thrown to the dogs and birds of prey. This was nothing more than the inhuman Koobjuck richly deserved. Such are the inscrutable but invariable decrees of Provi- dence! Though the wicked and the profane may for a time seem to triumph in their evil courses,-the punishment from on high sooner or later overtakes them in the midst of their career. There is a great moral to be learned from this, and to those of a contemplative turn of mind it will afford sufficient food for consideration during their leisure hours. King Vickramadetea was much pleased at the successful manner in which he had executed his plans, and thanked God for his mercy towards him. He embraced the queen in the first transport of his joy, and he was also profuse in his thanks to the minister for all he had done. He also sent for Somedut the brahmin, and extolled him in very high and flattering terms for the trouble he had been at in wandering through wilds and forest glens in search of him, regardless of his own comfort. The next day Vickra- madetea appeared in public, and ascended his throne amid the acclamations and joyful greetings of his courtiers and the whole assembled populace. The inhabitants of Oojein had been getting gradually reconciled to the hardness of the lot they experienced under the iron sway of Koobjuck; consequently any change for the better in their condition was as far removed from their minds as any event could well be. Since the time Koob-