_The Grateful Elephant_ _By the same author_: BUDDHIST PARABLES. Translated from the original Pāli. One volume. xxix + 348 pages. With photogravure of a Bodhisattva head from Gandhāra, from original in the Pennsylvania Museum. Octavo. Cloth. Yale University Press, 1922. $5.00. BUDDHIST LEGENDS. Translated from the original Pāli text of the Dhammapada Commentary. Three volumes. Harvard Oriental Series, 28, 29, 30. 1114 pages. Octavo. Cloth. Harvard University Press, 1921. $15.00 a set. [Illustration: _Then the elephant with his trunk caressed the Future Buddha and lifted him up._] _The Grateful Elephant_ _And Other Stories Translated from the Pāli_ _By Eugene Watson Burlingame_ _with Illustrations by Dorothy Lathrop_ [Illustration] _New Haven, Yale University Press_ _London, Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press_ _Mcmxxiii_ _Copyright 1923 by Yale University Press._ _Printed in the United States of America._ _To my nephew Westcott_ This _book contains twenty-six stories selected from the author’s larger work_ Buddhist Parables, _Yale University Press, 1922. The translation is a close, idiomatic rendering of the original Pāli text. In a few cases, words and phrases have been softened, and sentences have been omitted. In Story 1, two whole paragraphs which interrupt the progress of the story have been omitted. The author has not, however, “written down” any of the stories in order to remove such difficulties as the original translation may present to the child._ _Note on Pronunciation of Pāli Names._ The quantity of vowels is marked throughout. Short _a_ is pronounced like _u_ in _but_, long _ā_ like _a_ in _father_, long _ī_ like _ee_ in _see_, long _ū_ like _oo_ in _too_, short _i_ and short _u_ differing from the corresponding long vowels not in sound but in length. The _u_ in _Buddha_, for example, is short. Simple consonants are pronounced as in English, except that _c_ is pronounced like _ch_ in _church_, _g_ as in _get_, and _j_ as in _judge_. Combinations like _th_ and _dh_ should be pronounced as in _hothouse_ and _madhouse_. Names containing underdotted letters have been eliminated. A syllable is said to be long if it contains either a long vowel, or a short vowel followed by two consonants (except a consonant followed by _h_). Words of three or more syllables are accented on the second syllable from the last, provided the next to the last syllable is short, as _Gótama_, _Mállika_. If the next to the last syllable is long, it receives the accent, as _Brahmadátta_, _Nibbāna_. _Contents._ PAGE Note on pronunciation of Pāli names viii List of illustrations xiii Introduction xv