Dwelling there, King Nala continually thought of the princess of Vidarbha, and every evening he uttered this one verse: "Where now does she sleep, that suffering woman, worn out by hunger, thirst, and weariness? Remembering that fool, whom does she now attend upon?" One night Jīvala heard him speaking thus and asked: "Bāhuka, for whom do you grieve so constantly? I wish to hear." Nala said: "A certain man of feeble understanding had a wife who was greatly cherished, and he himself was bound to her even more strongly. For some reason this fool became separated from her, and, separated, he wanders about, tormented by misfortune. Burning with grief day and night, unwearying, remembering her at nightfall he sings one verse. Wandering over the whole earth, coming to rest here and there, unworthy, he dwells and remembers her suffering again and again. But that woman followed that man even in hardship into the forest, and was abandoned by him, a man of little merit — if she still lives, it is a hard thing indeed. Alone, young, unacquainted with the roads, unused to such ways, overcome by hunger and thirst — if she still lives, it is a hard thing indeed, in that vast and terrible forest ever roamed by beasts of prey, abandoned by him, a man of little merit and feeble understanding, dear friend." Thus did the king of Niṣadha, remembering Damayantī, live unrecognized in the household of that king.