When King Bhoja next drew near the throne, the third statuette came alive with a tinkle of bells. "Patience, O King!" she said. "Hear first how much Vikramaditya was ready to give — and to whom."
And she told this tale. Once, travelling in disguise as he often did to learn his people's sorrows, Vikramaditya met a traveller weeping beside an old temple. "My country is dying," the man sobbed. "For three years not a drop of rain has fallen. Our wells are dust, our fields are stone. The temple priests say the goddess is displeased, and that she will relent only for the rarest offering in the world — but who can say what that offering is? We are lost."
Vikramaditya entered the temple and stood before the goddess with folded hands. "Mother," he said, "a whole land of innocent people is thirsting. What is the rarest offering in the world? Gold? Jewels? Take all of mine. Kingdoms? Take my own." The temple stayed silent. Then the king spoke again, quietly. "I understand. The rarest offering is that which cannot be bought — a life given freely. Then take mine, Mother, and let the rains fall on those people." And he drew his sword and raised it toward his own neck, without trembling, without a single tear.
Before the blade could touch him, a hand of light caught his arm, and the goddess herself stood before him, glowing like a thousand lamps. "Enough, my son," she said, and her voice was like rain on dry earth. "It was not your head I wanted, but your heart — and I have seen it. No king has ever offered himself for strangers not even of his own kingdom." She granted that the rains would return that very night, and blessed Vikramaditya that his name would be remembered as long as the rivers of that land kept flowing. The king bowed, put away his sword, and quietly went on his way, telling no one what he had done.
The statuette then asked, "He offered his own head for thirsty strangers, O Bhoja, and asked for no reward and no fame. Could you do the same? If so, ascend the throne." King Bhoja lowered his eyes and stepped back yet again.