When the chief of the Devas saw this deed, he was affected with the highest admiration. Reassuming his own shape, he praised the Great Being with words both agreeable to the mind and the ears and preceded by a shower of celestial flowers. Then with his delicate hands of a rich lustre, like that of the petal of the white lotus, and embellished with their fingers resplendent like jewel ornaments, he took him up himself and showed him to the Celestials. 'Behold, ye Devas, inhabitants of the celestial residence, behold and rejoice at this astonishing deed, this heroic exploit of this Great Being. 34. 'Oh, how he has given away his body without hesitation to-day, to be charitable to his guest! But the fickle-minded[57] are not even able to give up, without trembling, faded flowers, the remainder of a sacrifice. [57] Strength of mind, constancy, earnestness, wisdom and virtue are all implied by the Buddhistic term dhîra; its opposite, adhîra, denotes therefore those who possess the opposed qualities, the 'fickle-minded.' 35. 'What a contrast between the animal species, which he belongs to, and the loftiness of his self-sacrifice, the sharpness of his mind! Indeed, he confounds all such as are slow in striving for meritorious actions, deities as well as men. 36. 'Oh, how his mind is impregnated with the fragrance of a constant practice of virtues! How he loves good conduct, as he manifested by his sublime deed!' Then, in order to glorify that extraordinary fact, and having in view the good of the world, _S_akra adorned with the image of the hare as a distinctive mark both peaks on the top of the belvederes--one on his most excellent palace Vai_g_ayanta and the other on Sudharmâ, the hall of the Devas--and likewise the disc of the moon. 37, 38. At full-moon even now that image of the hare (_s_a_s_a) appears in the moon's disc in the sky, as a reflected image shines in a silver mirror. From that time onward _K_andra (the Moon), named also the Ornament of the Night and the Cause of the Brilliancy of the Night-waterlilies, is famous in the world as the Hare-marked (_S_a_s_âṅka). And the others, the otter, the jackal, and the ape, disappeared thereafter (from the earth) and arrived in the world of the Devas, thanks to their possessing such a holy friend. * * * * * So then the practice of charity according to their power by Great Beings, even when in the state of beasts, is a demonstrated fact; who, then, being a man, should not be charitable? [Moreover, this too is to be propounded: 'Even beasts are honoured by the pious for their attachment to virtues; for this reason one must be intent on virtues.'] VII. THE STORY OF AGASTYA. (Comp. the Pâli _G_âtaka, No. 480, Fausb. IV, 236-242; and _K_ariyâpi_t_aka I, 1.) A heroic practice of liberality is an ornament even to ascetics, how much more to householders; as is taught by the following.