'
"Krishna said, "I will recite to thee, O king, the facts as they
happened. There are two Rishis, the foremost ones in the world, named
Narada and Parvata. Narada is the maternal uncle and Parvata is his
sister's son. With cheerful hearts, the uncle Narada and the nephew
Parvata had, in days of old, O king, left heaven for a pleasant ramble on
earth for tasting clarified butter and rice. Both of them, possessed of
great ascetic merit, wandered over the earth, subsisting on food taken by
human beings. Filled with joy and entertaining great affection for each
other, they entered into a compact that, whatever wish, good or bad,
would be entertained by one should be disclosed to the other, but on the
event of one of them acting otherwise, he should be subject to the
other's curse. Agreeing to that understanding, those two great Rishis,
adored of all the worlds, repaired to king Srinjaya, the son of Sitya and
said unto him, 'We two, for thy good, shall dwell with thee for a few
days. O lord of earth, do thou attend to all our wants duly.' The king,
saying, So be it, set himself to attend upon them hospitably. After a
while, one day, the king filled with joy, introduced to those illustrious
ascetics his daughter of the fairest complexion, saying, 'This my
daughter will wait upon you both. Bright as the filaments of the lotus,
she is beautiful and of faultless limbs, accomplished and of sweet
manners, and is called Sukumari by name.' 'Very well,' said the Rishis in
reply, upon which the king directed his daughter, telling her, 'O child,
attend upon these two Brahmanas as thou wouldst upon the gods or thy
sire.
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