[1093] To him replied the royal princess Maddī, beautiful in every limb:
"All these perils in the forest which you have declared to me —
all of them I shall brave. I shall surely go, O bull among charioteers.
Kāsa grass and kusa grass, potakila, usīra, muñja, and pabbaja reeds —
I shall thrust them aside with my breast; I shall not be hard for him to lead.
By many dutiful observances does a maiden win a husband —
by mortifying the belly, by binding on the cow's jawbone,
by attendance upon the fire, and by immersion in water.
Widowhood is bitter in the world; I shall surely go, O bull among charioteers.
Even a man not fit to eat her leavings,
seizing her by the hand, drags her off against her will.
Widowhood is bitter in the world; I shall surely go, O bull among charioteers.
Seizing by the hair, striking, and flinging upon the ground —
having inflicted much suffering, and that not slight, he does not depart.
Widowhood is bitter in the world; I shall surely go, O bull among charioteers.
Fair-skinned sons of widows, fancying themselves favored once they have given a gift,
drag her off against her will, as crows harry an owl.
Widowhood is bitter in the world; I shall surely go, O bull among charioteers.
Even dwelling in a prosperous family of kinsmen, resplendent with bronze,
she would not fail to receive abusive words from brothers and from companions.
Widowhood is bitter in the world; I shall surely go, O bull among charioteers.
Naked is a river without water; naked is a realm without a king;
naked too is a woman widowed, though she have ten brothers.
Widowhood is bitter in the world; I shall surely go, O bull among charioteers.
The banner is the mark of a chariot; smoke is the mark of fire;
the king is the mark of a realm; a husband is the mark of a woman.
Widowhood is bitter in the world; I shall surely go, O bull among charioteers.
The woman of renown who is poor with her poor husband, and rich with the rich —
her indeed the devas praise, for she does what is hard to do.
I shall follow my husband, always clad in the ochre robe;
even while the earth remains unbroken, widowhood is bitter for a woman.
Even the earth bounded by the ocean, bearing abundant wealth,
filled with manifold gems, I would not desire without Vessantara.
What can be the heart of such women — hard-hearted indeed are the women —
who, when their husband is in distress, wish for happiness for themselves!
When the great king goes forth, the fosterer of the realm of the Sivis,
him I shall follow, for he is the giver of all that I desire."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.