Nagananda 5.15

5.15

glānirnādhikapīyamānarudhirasyāpyasti dhairyyodadhe-
rmāsotkarttanajā rūjo 'pi vahataḥ prasannaṃ mukham /
gātraṃ yanna viluptameṣa pulakastatra sphuṭo lakṣyate
dṛṣṭirmayyupakāriṇīva nipatatyasyāpakāriṇyapi //

Garuda.
Never since my birth has so wonderful a thing been seen by me in my feasts on the lords of the Nágas! Not only is this hero unterrified, but he even appears almost delighted. There is no lassitude seen in him, though most of his blood is drunk up. His face, through its heroic endurance, even when he is suffering the pangs from the tearing of his flesh, seems serene as in ecstacy. Every limb, which is not actually destroyed, bristles with rapture. His glance falls on me, whilst doing him an injury, as though I were doing him a favour. Hence, by his heroism, my curiosity is excited. I will not eat him. I will ask who he is.