ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 11.18

11.18

“ ‘A sex worker!’ the woman retorted. ‘I couldn’t bear to touch any man!’

“ ‘I purchased you to be a sex worker, and at a very high price,’ the sex worker said. ‘Why would I have any other need for you?’

“The woman thought, ‘I must find a way to trick her.’ So she made her herself look like a demoness, just as before, and charged at the sex worker.

“ ‘The Demoness of the Dark Forest has entered your house!’ she cried. ‘How will you ever survive?’

“Terrified, the sex worker threw herself at her feet. ‘Please, spare my life!’ she pleaded.

“ ‘There is only one way to stop me from killing you.’ the woman replied, ‘If, while I am here, you don’t force me to engage in such work and never tell anyone about me, then I will spare your life.’

“ ‘As you wish,’ said the sex worker.

“They swore an oath, and soon enough everyone knew that there was a Demoness of the Dark Forest living at sex worker so-and-so’s house. They were all afraid of her, so no one would ever go there. The sex worker began to wonder, ‘Is there any way to get her out of my house?’

“In the meantime the woman’s baby had grown, and the householders had named him Bhūta too. As he grew up he studied letters, tallying, and arithmetic; the study of seals, lending, deposits, and commerce; and the examination of cloth, jewels, gems, incense, medicine, elephants, horses, and arms and armor. He became skilled in writing, skilled at reading, learned, decisive, and industrious, a master of the eight types of examination.

“One day, after the child’s