Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
Religion
Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
Jataka stories, English
“The villain, though exceeding clever,
Shall prosper not by his villany.
He may win indeed, sharp-witted in deceit,
But only as the Crane here from the Crab!”
* * * * *
When the Teacher had finished this discourse, showing that “Not
now only, O mendicants, has this man been outwitted by the country
robe-maker, long ago he was outwitted in the same way,” he established
the connexion, and summed up the Jātaka, by saying, “At that time he
was the Jetavana robe-maker, the crab was the country robe-maker, but
the Genius of the Tree was I myself.”
END OF THE STORY OF THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED.[336]
No. 39.
NANDA JĀTAKA.
Nanda on the Buried Gold.
“_The golden heap, methinks._”--This the Master told while at Jetavana,
about a monk living under Sāriputta.
He, they say, was meek, and mild of speech, and served the Elder with
great devotion. Now on one occasion the Elder had taken leave of the
Master, started on a tour, and gone to the mountain country in the
south of Magadha. When they had arrived there, the monk became proud,
followed no longer the word of the Elder; and when he was asked to do a
thing, would even become angry with the Elder.
The Elder could not understand what it all meant. When his tour was
over, he returned again to Jetavana; and from the moment he arrived
at the monastery, the monk became as before. This the Elder told the
Master, saying--
“Lord! there is a mendicant in my division of the Order, who in one
place is like a slave bought for a hundred, and in another becomes
proud, and refuses with anger to do what he is asked.”
Then the Teacher said, “Not only now, Sāriputta, has the monk behaved
like that; in a former birth also, when in one place he was like a
slave bought for a hundred, and in another was angrily independent.”
And at the Elder’s request he told the story.
* * * * *
Long ago, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benāres, the Bodisat came
to life again as a landowner. He had a friend, also a landowner, who
was old himself, but whose wife was young. She had a son by him; and he
said to himself--
“As this woman is young, she will, after my death, be taking some
husband to herself, and squandering the money I have saved. What, now,
if I were to make away with the money under the earth?”
And he took a slave in the house named Nanda, went into the forest,
buried the treasure in a certain spot of which he informed the slave,
and instructed him, saying, “My good Nanda! when I am gone, do you let
my son know where the treasure is; and be careful the wood is not sold!”
Very soon after he died; and in due course his son became of age. And
his mother said to him “My dear! your father took Nanda the slave with
him, and buried his money. You should have it brought back, and put the
family estates into order.”
And one day he accordingly said to Nanda, “Uncle! is there any money
which my father buried?”
“Yes, Sir!” said he.
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