Having said this, [Uttanka], taking leave of the queen, returned to Pauṣya and, seeing him, said: ‘Pauṣya, I am pleased.’ Pauṣya answered him: ‘Sir, rarely is a worthy one found [to receive gifts]; and you are a virtuous guest. Therefore I wish to perform the ancestral rite (shraddha) — grant me time.’ Uttanka answered him: ‘I have already arranged my time; I wish that food, whatever there is, be brought quickly.’ He, saying ‘very well’, fed him with whatever food was ready. But Uttanka, seeing the cold food with a hair in it, deemed it impure and said to Pauṣya: ‘Since you give me impure food, for that you shall become blind.’ Pauṣya answered him: ‘And since you find fault with food that was not spoiled, for that you shall be childless.’ Then Pauṣya went to find out the cause of the food's impurity. And it turned out that the food had been served by a woman with loose hair, and so had accidentally acquired a hair and grown cold. [Pauṣya] began to appease Uttanka: ‘Sir, unknowingly this food was served with a hair in it and cold; forgive me, let me not go blind.’ Uttanka answered him: ‘My word is not false: having gone blind, you will soon see again. But let the curse you have given not fall upon me either.’ Pauṣya answered him: ‘I cannot take the curse back, for my anger has not yet subsided even now. Do you not know what is said: “Butter is the heart of the brahmin, [but] in his speech — a sharp razor's edge; with the kshatriya it is the reverse: his speech [is soft] as butter, but his heart a sharp blade.” And so, given the harshness of my heart, I am unable to take back the curse. Go, then.’