"Other serpents [said]: 'Having become clouds with lightning, we shall quench the kindled sacrificial fire with rain.' Other, foremost among serpents: 'At night, [creeping up] on the unwary, let someone swiftly carry off the vessel of sacrificial implements -- thus there will be an obstacle.' Or: 'At that sacrifice, let serpents by the hundreds and thousands bite the whole populace -- thus terror will arise [and the rite will cease].' Or: 'Let serpents defile the consecrated food with their own urine and dung, which ruin all victuals.' Others yet [said]: 'We shall become his priests and, [demanding] the sacrificial fee, contrive an obstacle to the sacrifice; [thus] he will fall under our power and do as we wish.' Others: 'When the king is playing in the water, let us seize him, bring him to the house, and bind him -- thus the rite will not take place.' And other serpents, [thinking themselves] doers of good: 'Having seized him, let us bite him at once -- thus the deed will be done; with his death the root of [all] misfortunes will be cut.' [And, having said:] 'This is the final decision, approved by all; as you see fit, O king, so arrange it swiftly' -- they looked toward Vasuki, lord of serpents. Vasuki, having pondered, said to those serpents: 'This decision of yours does not seem to me fit to carry out, O serpents; to me, [king] of all serpents, it is not pleasing. What, then, ought to be arranged here, that would be for your good? By this I am sorely tormented -- for both the merit and the guilt [of all serpents] rest upon me.'"