With flowing
tears, she recounted incidents of their forest life.
"Once in Chitrakoota my lord and I wandered about in the grove beside the river and
became weary and rested on the ground. He laid his head upon my lap and fell asleep. While
thus, a crow came down and hungrily pecked at my bosom, I drove it off, but again and
again it returned and troubled me. I then flung a
pebble at it. But even that had no effect. Raama was roused from slumber and saw me thus
troubled and weeping in pain. At first when he saw what the matter was and found it was
but a crow, he was inclined to laugh at my discomfiture.
But he saw the bruise the crow had made and discovered that
the bird was really an Asura. The bird flew for its life, but Raama sped a dart at it
which pursued it wherever it went, till ' at last the crow-Asura sought Raama s feet for
refuge bad found pardon there. |