“Although I set my hoofs hard against the ground, yet as the net which
binds me is strong, and my feet are sorely wounded, I am not able to
tear the net. What, then, is to be done?”
Then the doe approached the hunter with courageous heart, and coming up
to him uttered this śloka—
“O hunter, draw thy sword and first kill me, and then kill the gazelle
prince.”
When the hunter asked her with astonishment what she had to do with the
gazelle prince, she replied, “He is my husband.” The hunter replied in
a verse—
“I will kill neither thee nor the gazelle prince. Thou shalt keep
company with thy beloved spouse.”