But whatever you do,
eat no salt all day. Do this for sixteen Mondays in succession, and
on the seventeenth Monday get five pounds of flour, mix with it ghee
and treacle, and offer it to Shiva inside this temple. Then divide it
into three parts; leave one for the god, distribute a second among
the Brahmans or give it to your cows, and take the third home to
be eaten by you and your family." The Apsaras disappeared, and the
priest followed their instructions and became quite well. Some time
afterwards Shiva and Parwati came again to the temple. Parwati saw
the priest cured of his leprosy and asked him how he had got rid of
it. He told her exactly what he had done. She was very much surprised,
and thought that if she did the same she might win back her son
Kartakswami, [19] who had quarrelled with her and had run off in a
rage. On the seventeenth Monday Kartakswami suddenly appeared, and
both of them were reconciled. Later on, Kartakswami asked Parwati how
she had brought him back, and Parwati told him. Now Kartakswami had a
Brahman friend who had gone into a far-off country, and Kartakswami
met him by accident shortly afterwards.
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