The World of Courtesans c12.29

c12.29

Purandaradatta, the king of Kaushambi, in order to find out for himself how prostitutes and their clients lived, walked unrecognized on the king's way and met a couple of young girls. He was curious to find out what they said to each other. He stopped and heard their conversation. One of them said: "Why was she shaking and perspiring." The reply was that it was due to an incident described by her friend. When the lover came, all the assembled courtesans drank together and were engaged in unrestrained love-making. It so happened that the lover who had too much to drink uttered the name of another woman. At this his beloved lost her temper and there was total confusion. The lover tried to assuage her sorrow but he did not succeed and she began to weep. The lover fell at her feet but she refused to accept his apologies. After some time her friend asked the lover to hide himself under the bed. When he had done what he was told to do, her friend told the mistress that he had left her. She told her that she and the other friend were also leaving for their homes. When the girl realized that everybody had left her, she was so unhappy that she wanted to hang herself, but at the last moment the lover appeared and there was a touching re-union.