140 CRADLE TALES OF HINDUISM
bidding him obtain the permission of the new King to enter the city, sent him to Sita to acquaint her privately with his victory.
Publicly he proffered a formal request to Vibhishana that he would personally escort the Queen of Kosala to his presence. She was to come, moreover, wearing the robes and jewels proper to occasions of state. The loving heart of the woman would have prompted her to fly to the shelter of her husband just as she was, in the mourning garments of her captivity. But Vibhishana reminded her gently of the sacred- ness of a husband's expressed wish, and she submitted immediately to the tiring which this imposed. Hard, verily, are the roads that princes walk I Treading at each step on her own heart, must Sita make her way to her husband's side.
At last the Queen was ready and entered the closed palanquin, with its hangings of scarlet and gold, in which she would be borne into the presence of Rama, Vibhishana himself riding before her to announce her coming. At the city gates, however, came the request that she should alight and proceed through the open camp on foot. Scarcely understanding, and so absorbed in the thought of seeing the King that she had little care for any minor detail, Sita rose from her seat in the covered htter and stepped out on the broad road. Round her, to
