Skandapurana 1.2.13

Nandikeśvara said:

Laughing, the ketakī petal spoke to him again:

The ketakī said:

"Are you foolish, knowing nothing, [not even] who you are or whence?

In him billions of cosmic eggs cling all around like this;

who is capable of knowing, 'such is his measure'?

Ten thousand four-age cycles have passed for me falling from there,

and even now, indeed, the middle of it has not reached the surface of the earth."

Bowing to this [petal] as it spoke thus, the lotus-born [Brahmā],

abandoning his own pride, spoke with folded hands.

Brahmā said:

"O great-souled one, true it is indeed: I am a fool, O ketaka petal!

For I, Brahmā, instituted a rivalry with Viṣṇu.

By both of us, the majesty of Śiva was forgotten,

since we felt great pride merely from creating and protecting.

Let that humiliating conversation be set aside for now, because even today

I am not freed from the rivalry entered into with [Viṣṇu] whose banner is Garuḍa.

Friendship is indeed said to arise from taking seven steps together; therefore,

abandoning the notion that I am a stranger, you ought to show me grace.

Viṣṇu and I, blinded by delusion at the sight of the pillar of fire,

assumed the forms of a swan and a boar to dispel mutual equality.

Wishing to see the base, into what condition he has fallen

I do not know; and such is the condition of me, who wished to see its tip:

a thousand years have passed while I flew up;

I have become utterly exhausted and as if separated from life.

By good fortune today, noble one, you have been found by me as a support for the sinking.

Therefore make fruitful this request of mine, your friend:

I am a friend from talking together; I am a servant from being attached [to you].

Therefore this plea is made by me with folded hands:

if he sees the base, then I am defeated by him;

or if he does not see it, then too I will have attained equality [with him].

Both of these outcomes, my friend, are exceedingly humiliating to me.

The role of preventing this has now fallen upon you alone.

Speak an untruth, which is appropriate for the sake of a friend!

Utter this single speech in the presence of [Viṣṇu] holding the discus:

'This Brahmā, in the form of a swan, has seen the extremely high summit

of him whose form is the pillar of fire; in this matter I stand as witness.

Even by the moon-crested [Śiva], who has become the pillar of fire,

he was highly honored, as a grandfather [is honored] by a father.

Therefore, this one alone is superior to you, O Viṣṇu!'

Having said this, let great assistance be rendered to me by you."

Nandikeśvara said:

Thus repeatedly enticed by the Creator, that ketakī petal, softened by courtesy,

spoke the whole message of Brahmā exactly so to Viṣṇu, who stood near the pillar of fire.

Thus ends the thirteenth chapter, entitled 'The Description of the Solicitation of the Ketaka Petal for False Witness by Brahmā', in the latter half of the Aruṇācalamāhātmya in the first [part], the Māheśvarakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.