Holding the humpback dear as life the queen applauded her uncommon shrewdness again and again. “I have no such friend as you in the whole world,” she said. “You have served as a prop to one who was drifting along a stream. If God fulfils my heart’s desire tomorrow, I will cherish you, my dear, as the apple of my eye.” Thus lavishing every term of endearment on her maid-servant, Kaikey¶ retired to the sulking-room. Discord was the seed and the servant-girl (MantharŒ) the rainy season; while the evil mind of Kaikey¶ served as the soil. Fed by the water of wiliness the seed took root and sprouted with the two boons as its leaves and will eventually bear the fruit of adversity. Gathering about her every token of resentment, Kaikey¶ lay down on the floor in the sulking-room; while enjoying of the wheels of his chariot got loosened and was about to fall when Queen Kaikey¶, who had accompanied the king to the battlefield, perceived it and inserting her own arm in place of the axle prevented the chariot from toppling down and held her arm in that position till her husband was able to vanquish his foe. The king was filled with admiration and gratitude when he marked this heroic feat of his queen and offered her two boons, which the queen prudently reserved for a future occasion. 372 * ÝR” RMACARITAMNASA* sovereignty, she was betrayed by her wicked mind. There was a great flutter in the gynaeceum as well as in the city; nobody had any inkling of this evil design. (1—4)