Simhasanadvatrimshika f7.p10

f7.p10

"He wants to protect you from me only to eat you himself. Therefore, throw the bear down yourself; I will eat him and leave, and you too may go to your own city." Hearing that, just as the prince threw him down, the bear, falling from the tree, caught hold of an inner branch. Seeing him again, the prince was seized with fear. Then the bear said: "O wretched sinner, why do you fear? You must reap the fruit of the deeds you performed before. Therefore, go wander about there turned into a fiend, uttering 'sa-se-mi-re'!" Then dawn broke; the tiger departed from that place. The bear too, having cursed the prince, went to his own abode. The prince also wandered in the forest, having become a fiend, uttering "sa-se-mi-re". Then the prince's horse returned to the city without the prince. Seeing the horse without the prince, the people reported to the king that the horse had returned alone. Then the king summoned his minister and said: "O minister, when the prince set out for the forest on a hunt, there was indeed a great bad omen; nonetheless, he disregarded it and departed. The proof of it has indeed arrived: the horse he rode has returned riderless from the forest. Therefore, let us go to the forest to search for him." The minister said: "Your Majesty, so it must be done." Then the king, accompanied by his ministers and retinue, went to the forest along the very path he had taken. Seeing his son in the forest, wandering about, transformed into a fiend, and uttering "sa-se-mi-re", the king plunged into an ocean of immense grief, took him, and returned to his city. Then he summoned those skilled in gems, mantras, and herbs, but though treated by them, he did not recover. On that occasion, the king said to the minister: "O minister, if Śāradānandana were here at this moment, he would cure him in a mere instant.