Said Sugriva, ‘Listen, all you monkeys; mutilate the demons and send them home!’ Upon hearing Sugriva’s bidding, the monkeys ran and paraded them in bonds all round the camp.

The monkeys then started belabouring them in every possible way and would not let them go though they piteously cried for help. At last they cried, ‘We adjure you by Rama the king of Kosala not to rob us of our noses and ears!’

When Lakshmana heard their cry, he summoned them all to himself and, moved to pity, laughed and had them at once set free. ‘Give this note into Ravana’s hands,’ he said, ‘and tell him: "Read, destroyer of your race, what Lakshmana says."

Tell the fool by word of mouth my generous message: "Surrender Sita and make your peace with Rama; else your hour has come!"

Bowing their heads at Lakshmana’s feet, the spies set out at once, recounting his perfections. With Rama’s praises on their lips, they entered Lanka and bowed their heads Ravana’s feet.

The ten-headed monster laughed and asked them the news: ‘Tell me, Shuka, how you fared, and then let me hear about Vibhishana, whose death is imminent.

The fool left Lanka, where he was ruling, and now the luckless wretch will be like the weevil in the barley. (He will be crushed with Rama’s monkeys, as the weevil is crushed with the barley.) Tell me next about the army of bears and monkeys that has been driven over here by a cruel destiny.