“I didn’t mean to tread upon you; don’t be angry,” said the other; but he was angry still. And as they went on vociferating, they got to disputing with one another in such words as these: “Ah! it was you then, I suppose, who did the lifting up of the net!” When they were so quarrelling, the Bodisat thought, “There is no depending for safety upon a quarrelsome man! No longer will these fellows lift up the net; so they will come to great destruction, and the fowler will get his chance again. I dare not stay here any more!” And he went off with his more immediate followers to some other place. And the fowler came a few days after, and imitated the cry of a quail, and cast his net over those who came together. Then the one quail cried out: “The talk was that the very hairs of your head fell off when you heaved up the net. Lift away, then, now!” The other cried out, “The talk was that the very feathers of your wings fell out when you heaved up the net. Lift away, then, now!” But as they were each calling on the other to lift away, the hunter himself lifted up the net, bundled them all in in a heap together, crammed them into his basket, and went home, and made his wife to smile. * * * * * When the Master had finished this lesson in virtue, in illustration of what he had said (“Thus, O king, there ought to be no such thing as quarrelling among relatives; for quarrels are the root of misfortune”), he made the connexion, and summed up the Jātaka, “He who at that time was the foolish quail was Devadatta, but the wise quail was I myself.” END OF THE STORY OF THE SAD QUARREL OF THE QUAILS.[327] No. 34. MACCHA JĀTAKA. The Fish and his Wife. “_’Tis not the heat, ‘tis not the cold._”--This the Master told when at Jetavana, about being tempted back by one’s former wife. For on that occasion the Master asked the monk, “Is it true, then, that you are love-sick?” “It is true, Lord!” was the reply. “What has made you sad?” “Sweet is the touch of the hand, Lord! of her who was formerly my wife. I cannot forsake her!” Then the Master said, “O Brother! this woman does you harm. In a former birth also you were just being killed through her when I came up and saved you.” And he told a tale. * * * * * Once upon a time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benāres, the Bodisat became his private chaplain. At that time certain fishermen were casting their nets into the river. Now a big fish came swimming along playing lustily with his wife. She still in front of him smelt the smell of a net, and made a circuit, and escaped it. But the greedy amorous fish went right into the mouth of the net. When the fishermen felt his coming in they pulled up the net, seized the fish, and threw it alive on the sand, and began to prepare a fire and a spit, intending to cook and eat it. Then the fish lamented, saying to himself;