66697602-The-Ramayana-R-K-Narayan

laughed aloud. He got up with such force that the base of the
mountain sank. His eyes spat fire, he ground his teeth in
anger, slapped his thigh, clapped his hands, and the sound
he made echoed through the valleys. “Yes, yes, here I come,”
shouted Vali rising from his bed. His voice resounded like
thunder through the heavens, the ornaments around his neck
snapped, scattering the gems.
Tara, his wife, interceded at this moment, pleading,
“Please do not go out now. There must be some
extraordinary reason why your brother is behaving in this
manner.”
Vali shouted, “Oh, my wife, get out of my way now.
Sugreeva is just crazy through desperation and loneliness.
That’s all. Nothing so serious as you fear. You’ll see me
come back in a moment, drunk with the blood of that brother
of mine.”
“He would not ordinarily dare to come your way but I fear
now he must be having some mighty support, which
encourages him to challenge you now. So be careful.”
“Dear wife, if all the creatures in all the worlds oppose me,
I can face them and wipe them out. That you know very well.
You who have the elegance of a peacock and the voice of a
nightingale, listen, have you forgotten that whoever confronts
me gives me half his strength—how can anyone escape
me? It’s only some senseless creature who would offer
support to my brother.”