Sudeshna could make out the evil thoughts of her brother. She was afraid. She replied, "Brother, though she is a servant she is a very virtuous woman. She is the wife of five Gandharavas, it seems."

Without the knowledge of the Queen, Keechaka begged Draupadi – "enough of this service. Come and be my queen."

Draupadi warned him – "Leave such evil thoughts or else you will be like a weak boy jumping into a folded river to cross it." She ran away from him. But Keechaka followed her like an evil spirit.

Once he actually chased her. Draupadi ran away with fear. She entered the royal court. There was King Virata. Kanka Bhatta and Valala were also there. Keechaka angrily pushed her and walked away. His eyes were burning with anger.

Draupadi was now like a cobra whose hood had been touched. She thundered, "You are all watching passively, when a man pushes about a woman ! Is this a King’s way?"

The cook Valala – Who was Bheema in disguise – was hissing in anger. He stared at a tree – as if he would wrench a branch and kill Keecaka with it. But Yudhishthira clevery said, "Cook valala, why do you eye that tree thus? It should not be felled now. There is still time." He also consoled Draupadi and sent her back.

But Draupadi could not control her anger and agony. That night she went to bed and wept and wept. In the dead of the night she quietly went to Bheema and said tauntingly – "While Keechaka tortures me, are you meditating with closed eyes?"

"I wanted to finish him," Bheema said. "But brother Yudhishthira came in the way. Wait for a few days."

Draupadi was enraged and said, "I came with some trust and confidence in you. With five heroes as my husbands, there is none to protect my honour. Yudhishthira is always bound by justice and morality. Arjuna is busy teaching dancing. Nakula and Sahadeva are not strong enough. After you took to cooking, your arms also have become weak. Alas, what could you do? You are not to blame. But it is not one or two insults I have suffered. I only cause trouble to you people, and am a source of trouble. At least permit me to die."

Pity welled up in Bheema’s heart at her condition "calm yourself," he told her. "Make Keechaka come to the dancing hall I will finish his story."

The next day Keechaka came to the Queen’s apartment, and again he began to follow and tease Draupadi. But what a surprise! She seemed to favour him. "Come tonight to the dancing hall," she told him.

Keechaka’s joy knew no bounds. He went that night to the dancing hall. Bheema pounced upon him. But Keechaka was also no ordinay man. He was a hero among heroes. There was a terrific fight. And Bheema killed him.

The next day thee was commotion in Virata Nagara. The city was full of rumours. Queen Sudeshna wept in sorrow. Keechaka’s brothers boiled with rage that because of her, their eldest brother had been killed. They determined to burn her along with Keechaka’s body and caught hold of her.

How could one helpless woman resist so may wicked persons? Bheema went quietly to the cremation ground. He uprooted some trees, took them with him, and beat the wicked fellows to their death with those trees.

Sudeshna called Draupadi and said to her with folded hands – "Enough harm has been done. Please go away."

"There are just a few days more," Draupadi said, "and then my husbands will take me away.’