Suta said: 'And here is another wonder of Astika's that we have heard — how, when the king, descendant of Parikshit, was offering other boons, the serpent Takshaka, fallen from Indra's hand, halted right there in the air. And then King Janamejaya fell into anxious thought; though the blazing fire was, as prescribed, fed abundantly, Takshaka, tormented by fear, would not fall into it.' Shaunaka said: 'Suta, did the many mantras of those wise brahmins then have no effect on the fire, since Takshaka did not fall?' Suta said: 'To that senseless, greatest of serpents, fallen from Indra's hand, Astika thrice cried out the words: "Stay, stay, stay!" And he remained fixed in mid-air, his heart wrung with anguish, as a man might remain caught between the spokes of a turning wheel. Then the king, urgently pressed by the assembly, spoke: "Let it be as Astika has said; let this rite be concluded, let the serpents be unharmed, let this Astika rejoice, and let the word of the suta prove true." Then a joyful roar of approval arose; and with the granting of the boon to Astika, the sacrifice ceased. Thus that sacrifice of the king, the Pandava descendant of Parikshit, came to an end; and King Bharata, Janamejaya, became content.'