The grateful elephant : $b And other stories translated from the PāliBurlingame, Eugene Watson
Religion
The grateful elephant : $b And other stories translated from the Pāli
Burlingame, Eugene Watson
Buddhist legends
Then the second pack pursued the first pack hotly, fought with; them,
killed every man of them, and took the spoils. Again dividing into two
packs, they fought with each other until one pack of two hundred and
fifty had killed the other. Continuing in this wise, they killed each
other off until there were only two men left. Thus those thousand men
came to ruin. Now those two men, having gotten away with the spoils
by a ruse, hid the spoils in a thicket near a certain village. One sat
guarding the spoils with sword in hand; the other, having procured
rice, entered the village to have some porridge cooked.
“Cupidity is the root of ruin!”
The man sitting by the spoils reflected: “When this fellow returns,
this wealth will have to be divided into two portions. Suppose I were
to strike him with the sword and kill him the very moment he returns!”
So girding on his sword, he sat watching for his companion to return.
His companion reflected: “That wealth will have to be divided into two
portions. Suppose I were to put poison in the porridge, let that fellow
eat it, cause his death, and get the spoils for myself alone!” So when
the porridge was done, he ate some himself, put poison in the rest, and
then took it and went to the thicket.
The moment the second thief took that porridge out and set it down, the
first thief cleft him in twain with his sword and flung his remains
away in a secluded spot. Then he ate that porridge and himself died on
the spot. Thus, by reason of that wealth, every one of those men came
to ruin.
As for the Future Buddha, he returned in the course of a day or two
with the ransom-money. Not seeing his teacher where he had left him,
but seeing the spoils scattered all about, he reflected: “It must be
that my teacher disregarded my words and caused the Rain of Riches; it
must be that all of those men have come to ruin.” And he continued his
walk along the highway.
As he proceeded, he saw his teacher lying on the highway, cleft in
twain. Thought he: “My teacher disregarded my words and is dead.” Then
he gathered firewood, built a pyre, cremated his teacher, and honored
him with forest-flowers.
As he proceeded, he saw farther on five hundred thieves who had met
destruction; farther on yet, two hundred and fifty; and so on until
finally he came upon two. Thought he: “These thousand thieves have come
to ruin save only two. There must be two thieves besides. They also
could never have restrained themselves. Where can they be?”
As he proceeded, he saw the footprints of the two thieves who had
entered the thicket with the spoils. Proceeding farther, he saw first a
heap of riches wrapped up in a bundle, and then one of the two thieves
dead with a porridge-bowl overturned beside him. Then he knew all.
“Such-and-such they must have done,” thought he. Then he reflected:
“Where can that fellow be?” Making a search, he found his body also
flung away in a secluded spot. Then he reflected:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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