"'Bhishma said, "Hearing those piteous lamentations of the pigeon on the
tree, the she-pigeon seized by the fowler began to say to herself as
follows.
"'"The she-pigeon said, 'Whether I have any merit or not, verily there is
no limit to any good fortune when my dear lord thus speaks of me. She is
no wife with whom her lord is not content. In the case of women, if their
lords be gratified with them all the deities also become so. Since the
marriage union takes place in the presence of fire, the husband is the
wife's highest deity. That wife with whom her husband is not pleased
becomes consumed into ashes, even like a creeper adorned with bunches of
flowers in a forest conflagration.' Having reflected thus, the
she-pigeon, afflicted with woe, and immured by the fowler within his
cage, thus spoke unto her woe-stricken lord, 'I shall say what is now
beneficial for thee. Hearing me follow thou my counsel. O dear lord, be
thou the rescuer of a suppliant. This fowler lies here by thy abode,
afflicted with cold and hunger. Do him the duties of hospitality. The sin
that a person commits by slaying a Brahmana or that mother of the world,
viz., a cow, is equal to that which one incurs by suffering a suppliant
to perish (from want of help). Thou art possessed of knowledge of self.
It ever behoves one like thee, therefore, to follow that course which has
been ordained for us as pigeons by the order of our birth.[434] It has
been heard by us that the householder who practises virtue according to
the measure of his abilities, wins hereafter inexhaustible regions of
bliss. Thou hast sons. Thou hast progeny. O bird, casting off all
kindness for thy own body, therefore, and for winning virtue and profit,
offer worship to this fowler so that his heart may be pleased. Do not, O
bird, indulge in any grief on my account. (See, how unimportant I am!)
Thou mayst continue to live, taking other wives!' The amiable she-pigeon,
overcome with sorrow, and casting her eyes upon her lord from the
fowler's cage within which she had been immured, said these words unto
him."'"