66697602-The-Ramayana-R-K-Narayan

shoulders are broad and high like hillocks. Now go and fetch
that Sita. Hurry up. And as to your prophecy, if I have to die
for it, let it be Rama’s arrow that pierces my heart rather than
the insidious, minute ones from the bow of the god of love.”
“Tell me what I should do. What is left for me to do? The
time when I decided to avenge the death of my mother and
brother, two companions and I approached Rama in the
shape of spotted deer. Rama killed the other two with a
single arrow and I barely escaped with my life. Then I
adopted a new philosophy. Now again, what is there left for
me to do?” reflected Mareecha woefully, concluding that he
would rather be killed by Rama than by his own nephew, who
had just threatened him.
Ravana merely said, “You will have to grab her by some
trickery.”
“It would be nobler and more befitting for one of your
status,” Mareecha replied, “to fight Rama on this issue and
take Sita as a prize of your conquest.”
“Do you want me to employ an army to tackle that mortal? I
can put an end to his nuisance once for all, but I do not wish
to take that step, as the woman may immolate herself if she
finds her man dead, and our whole plan would be ruined.”
Mareecha realized that his strategy to end Ravana’s
career would not work. There was no escape for him.
Resigning himself to his fate, he said, “Tell me what to do.”