In times past, when Brahmadatta ruled at Benāres, the Future Buddha was reborn as a lion, and when he grew up, lived in a forest. At that time, near the Western Ocean, grew a grove of cocoanut trees intermingled with Vilva trees. There, at the foot of a Vilva tree, under a cocoanut sapling, lived a little hare. One day, returning with food, he lay down under a cocoanut leaf and thought: “If this earth should collapse, what would ever become of me?” At that very instant a Vilva fruit fell on top of the cocoanut leaf. At the sound of it the little hare thought: “This earth is certainly collapsing!” And springing to his feet, back he ran, without so much as taking a look. As he was running away as fast as he could in fear of death, another little hare saw him and asked: “Why, pray, are you running away in such a fright?” “Oh, don’t ask me!” And he kept right on running, in spite of the fact that the other little hare kept asking: “Oh! what is it? Oh! what is it?” The other little hare turned around, and without so much as taking a look, said: “The earth is collapsing here!” He also ran away, following the first. In the same way a third little hare saw the second, and a fourth the third, until finally there were a hundred thousand little hares running away together. A deer saw them,--also a boar, an elk, a buffalo, an ox, a rhinoceros, a tiger, a lion, and an elephant. Seeing, each asked: “What’s this?” “The earth is collapsing here!” Each ran away. Thus, in the course of time, there was an army of animals a league in size. At that time the Future Buddha, seeing that army running away, asked: “What’s this?” “The earth is collapsing here!” When the Future Buddha heard this, he thought: “No such thing! The earth is collapsing nowhere! It must certainly be that they failed to understand something they heard. But if I do not put forth effort, they will all perish. I will grant them their lives.” With the speed of a lion he preceded them to the foot of a mountain and thrice roared the roar of a lion. Terrified with fear of the lion, they turned around and stood all huddled together. The lion made his way in among them and asked: “Why are you running away?” “The earth is collapsing!” “Who saw it collapsing?” “The elephants know.” He asked the elephants. Said the elephants: “We don’t know; the lions know.” Said the lions: “We don’t know; the tigers know.” The tigers: “The rhinoceroses know.” The rhinoceroses: “The oxen know.” The oxen: “The buffaloes.” The buffaloes: “The elks.” The elks: “The boars.” The boars: “The deer.” The deer: “We don’t know; the little hares know.”