विक्रम चरित (उज्जैन सम्राट् विक्रमादित्य - पराक्रम, न्याय एवं ३२ पुतलियों की कथा सटीक)

65
pleasure and comfort, perhaps because we are not sufficiently
obedient to his will, and that when we pray we fail to do so
with humble reliance on Him. ‘How often,’ said he, ‘do
we not, even in extreme cases, place our faith rather in man,
when our dependence in all things, even to the smallest
item, should be on God alone! Go,’ continued the hermit,
‘perform certain sacrifices, open your inmost soul to heaven,
seek the divine aid in humble supplication, and entreat all
devout men and brahmins to join you in your prayers, and
you may move God to grant your request; there is no other
means. To God alone must you apply.’ The king attended
to all the hermit had said, and having assembled all the
good and devout men in his realms, besought them to
address their prayers to heaven for a prince to succeed him.
The sacrifice ordered by the hermit was performed, and
soon after the united prayers of the people and their sovereign
were heard, and it pleased heaven in due time for the
queen to prove with child. This event caused, not unreason-
ably, universal joy in the kingdom, and the king and queen
were in addition filled with so profound a feeling of gratitude
that they testified it in more ways than one. Among others,
the king gave a general invitation to all the devout men and
priests to assemble together in his palace on a certain day,
and there to partake of his bounty in a style of princely
magnificence. He treated them with profuse liberality,
bestowing on them rich and costly presents in gold, jewels,
and apparel, and they departed, extolling in a loud voice the
generosity of the monarch, and the many virtues that
adorned him. Not satisfied with this, he set apart a large
amount of money to be distributed amongst the poor of his
dominions, which elicited from them repeated blessings on
his head. To the hermit he gave many a costly gift, in
proof of the high estimation in which he was held; and in
a flow of gratitude threw himself at his feet, and blessed him
for the kind sympathy he had manifested in his behalf. The
hermit soon afterwards retired, fully convinced of the great-
ness and power of the monarch, of which he had given him
J