Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
Religion
Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
Jataka stories, English
“_Envy not Muṇika._”--This the Master told while at Jetavana, about
being attracted by a fat girl. That will be explained in the Birth
Story of Nārada-Kassapa the Younger, in the Thirteenth Book.
On that occasion the Teacher asked the monk, “Is it true what they say,
that you are love-sick?”
“It is true, Lord!” said he.
“What about?”
“My Lord! ‘tis the allurement of that fat girl!”
Then the Master said, “O monk! she will bring evil upon you. In a
former birth already you lost your life on the day of her marriage, and
were turned into food for the multitude.” And he told a tale.
* * * * *
Long ago, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the Bodisat came
to life in the house of a landed proprietor in a certain village as an
ox, with the name of ’Big-red.’ And he had a younger brother called
‘Little-red.’ And all the carting work in the household was carried on
by means of the two brothers.
Now there was an only daughter in that family, and she was asked in
marriage for the son of a man of rank in a neighbouring city. Then her
parents thinking, “It will do for a feast of delicacies for the guests
who come to the girl’s wedding,” fattened up a pig with boiled rice.
And his name was ‘Sausages.’
When Little-red saw this, he asked his brother, “All the carting work
in the household falls to our lot. Yet these people give us mere grass
and straw to eat; while they bring up that pig on boiled rice! What can
be the reason of that fellow getting that?”
Then his brother said to him, “Dear Little-red, don’t envy the creature
his food! This poor pig is eating the food of death! These people are
fattening the pig to provide a feast for the guests at their daughter’s
wedding. But a few days more, and you shall see how these men will come
and seize the pig by his legs, and drag him off out of his sty, and
deprive him of his life, and make curry for the guests!” And so saying,
he uttered the following stanza:
“Envy not ‘Sausages!’
’Tis deadly food he eats!
Eat your chaff, and be content;
’Tis the sign of length of life!”
And, not long after, those men came there; and they killed ‘Sausages,’
and cooked him up in various ways.
Then the Bodisat said to Little-red, “Have you seen ’Sausages,’ my
dear?”
“I have seen, brother,” said he, “what has come of the food poor
Sausages ate. Better a hundred, a thousand times, than his rice, is our
food of only grass and straw and chaff; for it works no harm, and is
evidence that our lives will last.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account