Dark was the night and quite fearsome the atmosphere. The howling of jackals faded into the weird laughter of unearthly beings. Flashes of lightning revealed ghastly faces. But King Vikram did not swerve. He climbed the ancient tree and brought down the corpse. However, as soon as he began crossing the desolate cremation ground, with the corpse lying astride on his shoulder, the vampire observed, "O king, why are you toiling like this? For whom are you undertaking this mission? Does that person, for whom you are toiling, really deserve this? I am reminded of Prince Ananga who tried to help a man, Anand. Listen to his story."
The vampire went on: In Ananthagiri, there lived Anand whose only ambition was to hear people praising him that he was a great person. Earlier in life, he and his family were under poor circumstances, but an enterprising man that he was, Anand by dint of hard work made himself rich, though one would not call him wealthy. He had managed to build a huge house; he gave his wife more ornaments than what she would need. His children did not feel any want.
Now Anand had a lot of free time for thinking. He imagined that he had achieved great things. At the same time, what bothered him was that people were not accepting his achievements and giving him due recognition. So, whenever he met somebody, he himself began telling them about his life and achievements: what efforts he took to rise from depths of poverty, what trials and tribulations he went through. Most of his listeners did not react or respond; they merely remained silent. A few others could see parallels in their own lives, and started narrating them to Anand. Some others remarked: "You must be aware that there are many people in this kingdom struck with poverty."
