By chance a Gosavi, or holy man,
came that way and saw the queen, and she told him her story. The
holy man took her to his house and treated her as his own daughter,
and she did her best to serve him faithfully. But, at whatever thing
she looked, it would either disappear or become full of worms and
maggots. At last the holy man searched for the cause of this by means
of his inner knowledge. And thus he learnt that she had incurred the
sin of spoiling the worship of Shiva, which the Apsaras had first
taught the priest. Unless that sin were atoned for, her evil glance
would never be purified. So the holy man prayed to the god Shiva,
and the god was pleased with him; and when the holy man interceded
with him on the queen's behalf, the god said that he would forgive her
if she began and completed properly the rites which she had spoiled
when her husband was performing them. The queen did so, and the god's
anger vanished. Suddenly there rose in the heart of her husband, the
king, a wish to see his queen, and he sent out messengers on every
side to look for her.
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