[336] This fable is a great favourite. It was among those translated into the Syriac and Arabic, and has been retained in all the versions of the Kalila and Dimna series, while it occurs in the Arabian Nights, and in the story-books of the Northern Buddhists and of the Hindus. It has been already traced through all the following story-books (whose full titles, and historical connexion, are given in the Tables appended to the Introduction to this volume). Kalilag und Dimnag, pp. 12, 13. Sylvestre de Sacy, chapter v. Wolf, vol. i. p. 41. Anvār i Suhaili, p. 117. Knatchbull, pp. 113-115. Symeon Seth (Athens edition), p. 16. John of Capua, c. 4 b. ’Ulm’ German text, D. V. b. The Spanish version, xiii. 6. Firenzuola, p. 39. Doni, p. 59. Livre des Lumières, p. 92. Cabinet des Fées, xvii. p. 221. Livre des Merveilles (du Meril in a note to Batalo, p. 238). Contes et Fables Indiennes de Bidpai et de Lokman, i. p. 357. La Fontaine, x. 4. Arabian Nights (Weil, iv. 915). Pañca Tantra, i. 7 (comp. ii. 58). Hitopadesa, iv. 7 (Max Müller. p. 118). Kathā Sarit Sāgara Tar. lx. 79-90. Dhammapada, p. 155. Professor Benfey has devoted a long note to the history of the story (Introduction to the Pañca Tantra, i. 174, § 60), and I have only succeeded in adding, in a few details, to his results. The tale is told very lamely, as compared with the Pāli original, in all those versions I have been able to consult. It is strange that so popular a tale was not included by Planudes or his successors in their collections of so-called Æsop’s Fables. [337] In the so-called Æsop’s Fables are several on the text that a haughty spirit goeth before a fall; for instance, ‘The Charger and the Ass,’ ‘The Bull and the Frog,’ and ‘The Oats and the Reeds’; but this is the only story I know directed against the pride arising from the temporary possession of wealth. [338] It is a great breach of etiquette for an inferior to remain in any place above that where his superior is. [339] One who has the power of gaining salvation for himself; but not of giving others the knowledge of it. The Birth Story to which this is an Introduction is about a gift to a Pacceka Buddha. [340] _Ariya-puggalas_, the persons who, by self-culture and self-control, have entered respectively on the Four Stages, and have reached the Four Fruits of the Noble Eightfold path. [341] This story is quoted in ‘Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio,’ translated by Herbert A. Giles, vol. i. p. 396. * * * * * Transcriber's Notes Obvious typographical errors and inconsistencies have been silently corrected. Hyphenation and diacritics have been standardised, but other variations in spelling and punctuation remain unchanged. Italics are represented thus _italic_ and bold thus =bold=. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Buddhist birth stories: or, Jataka tales, Volume 1, by V. Fausböll