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
Now a certain man who lived in the kingdom of Kāsi, driven from home by
his mother and father with the remark, “He’s no good to us,” went to a
certain seaport, hired himself out to mariners, and embarked on a ship.
In mid-ocean the ship sprang a leak, and he floated to that island on
a plank. While seeking wild fruits he saw that boar. Creeping up, he
seized the gem. By its magical power he rose into the air. Seating
himself on the fig tree, he thought: “This boar, become an air-voyager
by the magical power of this gem, lives here, I suppose. But I must
not go back without first of all killing him and eating his flesh.” He
broke off a twig and let it fall on the boar’s head. The boar woke up,
but not seeing the gem, ran this way and that, all of a tremble. The
man sitting in the tree laughed. The boar looked, and seeing him, ran
his head against the tree, and died then and there. The man came down,
made a fire, and cooked the boar’s flesh and ate it. Then he rose into
the air and passed over the tops of the Himālayas.
Seeing a region of hermitages, he descended at the hermitage of the
eldest ascetic. He lived there for two or three days, performed the
major and minor duties for the ascetic, and saw the magical power of
the little hatchet. “This I must get,” thought he. Accordingly, after
demonstrating to the ascetic the magical power of the gem, he said:
“Reverend Sir, take this gem and give me the little hatchet.” The
ascetic, having a desire to travel through the air, took the gem and
gave him the little hatchet.
[Illustration: _He bit the gem, and by its magical power rose into the
air._]
The man took the little hatchet and went a short distance. Then he
rubbed the little hatchet and said: “Little hatchet, chop off the
ascetic’s head and bring me the gem.” The little hatchet went and
chopped off the ascetic’s head and brought him the gem. The man put
the little hatchet in a secret place, and then went to the second
ascetic and lived with him for a few days. Seeing the magical power
of the drum, he gave the second ascetic the gem, took the drum, and
in the same way as before caused his head also to be cut off. Then he
approached the youngest ascetic. Seeing the magical power of the bowl
of curds, he gave the youngest ascetic the gem, took the bowl of
curds, and in the same way as before caused his head to be cut off.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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