Then he bathed Nandi Visāla, gave him a measure of scented rice, hung a garland round his neck, and yoked him by himself to the front cart. Then he took his seat on the pole, raised his goad aloft, and called out, “Gee up! you brute!! Drag ‘em along! you wretch!!” The Bodisat said to himself, “He addresses me as a wretch. I am no _wretch_!” And keeping his four legs as firm as so many posts, he stood perfectly still. Then the squire that moment claimed his bet, and made the Brāhman hand over the thousand pieces. And the Brāhman, minus his thousand, took out his ox, went home to his house, and lay down overwhelmed with grief. Presently Nanda Visāla, who was roaming about the place, came up and saw the Brāhman grieving there, and said to him, “What, Brāhman! are you asleep?” “Sleep! How can I sleep after losing the thousand pieces?” “Brāhman! I’ve lived so long in your house, and have I ever broken any pots, or rubbed up against the walls, or made messes about?” “Never, my dear!” “Then why did you call me a wretch? It’s your fault. It’s not my fault. Go now, and bet him two thousand, and never call me a wretch again--I, who am no wretch at all!” When the Brāhman heard what he said, he made the bet two thousand, tied the carts together as before, decked out Nandi Visāla, and yoked him to the foremost cart. He managed this in the following way: he tied the pole and the cross-piece fast together; yoked Nandi Visāla on one side; on the other he fixed a smooth piece of timber from the point of the yoke to the axle-end, and wrapping it round with the fastenings of the cross-piece, tied it fast; so that when this was done, the yoke could not move this way and that way, and it was possible for one ox to drag forwards the double bullock-cart. Then the Brāhman seated himself on the pole, stroked Nandi Visāla on the back, and called out, “Gee up! my beauty!! Drag it along, my beauty!!” And the Bodisat, with one mighty effort, dragged forwards the hundred heavily-laden carts, and brought the hindmost one up to the place where the foremost one had stood! Then the cattle-owner acknowledged himself beaten, and handed over to the Brāhman the two thousand; the bystanders, too, presented the Bodisat with a large sum; and the whole became the property of the Brāhman. Thus, by means of the Bodisat, great was the wealth he acquired. * * * * * So the Teacher reproved the Six, saying, “Harsh words, O mendicants, are pleasant to no one;” and uttered, as Buddha, the following stanza, laying down a rule of moral conduct: Speak kindly; never speak in words unkind! He moved a heavy weight for him who kindly spake. He gained him wealth; he was delighted with him! When the Teacher had given them this lesson in virtue (“Speak kindly,” etc.), he summed up the Jātaka, “The Brāhman of that time was Ānanda, but Nandi Visāla was I myself.” END OF THE STORY OF THE BULL WHO WON THE BET. No. 29. KAṆHA JĀTAKA.