The illustration to Story 17, _Dragon Jewel-neck_, represents the king of the dragons encircling the ascetic with his coils. The ascetic is seated at the door of his leaf-hut on the bank of the Ganges. The tree in the background is the Sacred Fig-tree, the Pipphala, _Ficus Religiosa_. It was under a tree of this species that Gotama sat on the night of his Enlightenment. Accordingly, this tree has a symbolic value for Buddhists corresponding to that which the Cross has for Christians, and is frequently sculptured on the monuments. See Cunningham, Plates xiii. 1, xxx. 3. The tree to the right of the hut may be a Sandalwood-tree. See note on illustration to Story 3. The illustration to Story 22, _Monkey-gardeners_, is taken from Cunningham, Plate xlv. 5. The monkeys, in obedience to the instructions of their leader, are pulling up the young fig-trees by the roots, examining the roots, watering plentifully the trees with long roots, but sparingly the trees with short roots, and planting them again. In drawing the water-pots, the artist has followed the Bharahat sculpture rather than the description given in the text. _1. The Grateful Elephant._ _Where there’s a will, there’s a way._ Jātaka 156: ii. 17-23. _Relying on Noble-heart._ This parable was related by the Teacher while he was in residence at Jetavana with reference to a certain monk who relaxed effort. Said the Teacher to him: “Of a truth, monk, did you not, in a previous state of existence, by exerting yourself, get and give to a young prince no bigger than a piece of meat, dominion over the city of Benāres, a city twelve leagues in measure?” So saying, he related the following Story of the Past: In times past, when Brahmadatta ruled at Benāres, there was a carpenters’ settlement not far from Benāres. In this settlement lived five hundred carpenters. They would go up-stream in a boat, cut timber for building materials for houses in the forest, and prepare houses of one or more stories on the spot. Then, marking all of the timbers, beginning with the pillars, they would carry them to the river-bank, load them on a boat, return to the city with the current, and for a price build for any particular person any particular kind of house he desired to have built. Then they would go back to the forest and get building materials once more. Thus they made their living.