Do not
forbear showing the extent of thy might. Do thou vomit all thy wrath upon
me. By giving way to thy wrath, what wilt thou do to me? Even if thy
might had, been thy own (instead of being derived), I would not still
have been afraid of thee. I am superior to thee in might. I should not be
afraid of thee. They are really strong in understanding. They, on the
other hand, are not to be regarded strong that are possessed of only
physical strength.' Thus addressed, the Wind-god said, 'Tomorrow I shall
test thy strength.' After this, night came. The Salmali, concluding
mentally what the extent is of the Wind's might and beholding his own
self to be inferior to the god, began to say to himself, 'All that I said
to Narada is false. I am certainly inferior in might to the Wind. Verity,
he is strong in his strength. The Wind, as Narada said, is always mighty.
Without doubt, I am weaker than other trees. But in intelligence no tree
is my equal. Therefore, relying upon my intelligence I shall look at this
fear that arises from the Wind. If the other trees in the forest all rely
upon the same kind of intelligence, then, verily, no injury can result to
them from the god of the Wind when he becomes angry. All of them.
however, are destitute of understanding, and, therefore, they do not
know, as I know, why or how the Wind succeeds in shaking and tearing them
up.'"
SECTION CLVII
"Bhishma said, 'Having settled this in his mind, the Salmali. in sorrow,
himself caused all his branches, principal and subsidiary, to be cut off.
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