Buddha (The concept) -- Juvenile literature; Buddhism -- Juvenile literature; Buddhist legends
The old woman called the hawker, and, after asking him to take a seat,
gave him the dish, and said: “Will you take this, Sir, and give
something to your little sister for it?”
The hawker took the dish, and thought: “This must be gold!” And turning
it round, he scratched a line on its back with a needle, and found that
it was so. Then, hoping to get the dish without giving them anything, he
said: “What is this worth? It is not even worth a halfpenny!” And
throwing it on the ground, he got up from his seat and went away.
Now, it was allowed to either hawker to enter the street which the other
had left. And the Bodisat came into that street, and calling out, “Buy
my water-pots,” came up to the door of that very house. And the girl
spoke to her grandmother as before. But the grandmother said: “My child,
the dealer who came just now threw the dish on the floor, and went away;
what have I now got to give him in exchange?”
“That merchant, mother dear, was a surly man; but this one looks
pleasant, and has a kind voice: perchance he may take it.”
“Call him, then,” said she.
So she called him. And when he had come in and sat down, they gave him
the dish. He saw that it was gold, and said: “Mother! this dish is worth
a hundred thousand. All the goods in my possession are not equal to it
in value!”
“But, Sir, a hawker who came just now threw it on the ground, and went
away, saying it was not worth a halfpenny. It must have been changed
into gold by the power of your virtue, so we make you a present of it.”
The Bodisat gave them all the cash he had in hand (five hundred pieces),
and all his stock-in-trade, worth five hundred more. He asked of them
only to let him keep eight pennies, and the bag and the yoke that he
used to carry his things with. And these he took and departed.
And going quickly to the river-side, he gave those eight pennies to a
boatman, and got into the boat.
But the covetous hawker came back to the house, and said: “Bring out
that dish, I’ll give you something for it.”
Then she scolded him, and said: “You said our gold dish, worth a hundred
thousand, was not worth a halfpenny. But a just dealer, who seems to be
your master, gave us a thousand for it, and has taken it away.”
When he heard this he called out: “Through this fellow I have lost a
golden pot worth—Oh, worth a hundred thousand! He has ruined me
altogether!” And bitter sorrow overcame him, and he was unable to retain
his presence of mind, and he lost all self command. And scattering the
money he had, and all the goods, at the door of the house, he seized as
a club the yoke by which he had carried them, and tore off his clothes,
and pursued after the Bodisat.
When he reached the river-side, he saw the Bodisat going away, and he
cried out: “Hallo, Boatman! stop the boat!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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