तं होवाच । नैतद् अब्रह्मणो विवक्तुम् अर्हति । समिधं सोम्याहर । उप त्वा नेष्ये न सत्याद् अगा इति । तम् उपनीय कृशानाम् अबलानां चतुःशता गा निराकृत्य उवाचेमाः सोम्यानुसंव्रजेति । ता अभिप्रस्थापयन्न् उवाच । नासहस्रेणावर्तेयेति । स ह वर्षगणं प्रोवास । ता यदा सहस्रं सम्पेदुः
taṃ hovāca | naitad abrahmaṇo vivaktum arhati | samidhaṃ somyāhara | upa tvā neṣye na satyād agā iti | tam upanīya kṛśānām abalānāṃ catuḥśatā gā nirākṛtya uvācemāḥ somyānusaṃvrajeti | tā abhiprasthāpayann uvāca | nāsahasreṇāvarteyeti | sa ha varṣagaṇaṃ provāsa | tā yadā sahasraṃ sampeduḥ
Devanagari rendered by HREEM from the edition's roman (IAST) text; the IAST is the edition's own.
He said to him: 'No one but a true Brâhmana would thus speak out. Go and fetch fuel, friend, I shall initiate you. You have not swerved from the truth. Having initiated him, he chose four hundred lean and weak cows, and said: 'Tend these, friend.' He drove them out and said to himself, 'I shall not return unless I bring back a thousand.' He dwelt a number of years (in the forest), and when the cows had become a thousand,
Translated by F. Max Müller