66697602-The-Ramayana-R-K-Narayan

Whereupon his commander-in-chief said, “Abducting a
woman when her husband is away is not the work of a hero.
Those two human beings, Rama and his brother, have wiped
out such warriors as Kara and fourteen thousand troops
under his command; and they have mutilated your sister. You
should have dealt first with the men and then taken the
woman. That would have been the simplest solution. You
ignored everything and took that woman in haste and now
lament that your authority is shaken. Or even later, instead of
sitting back and enjoying the life of this beautiful city, you
should have ordered us to go out and kill those two on their
own ground. You did not do that. Now we must go forth,
search out those who have inspired this monkey, and finish
them. If we do not accomplish it in time, what has begun with
a monkey may not end with a monkey. Next even a swarm of
mosquitoes may decide to challenge your authority. We
must act; this is no time for brooding on the past.”
When he sat down, the next one, called Mahodara, a giant
among giants, rose and said, “Chief! Before your might
which has shaken Mount Kailas and brought all the great
gods as supplicants at your feet, a monkey’s pranks should
be ignored. Permit me. I will go and drink the blood of those
who have set this monkey on us and come back within a
trice.”
Another one got up and said, “After all, monkeys and
human beings are created by Brahma for our food. It is not