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
As for the Future Buddha, he waited for a month and a half from the
day when the foolish caravan-leader set out, and then set out from
the city with five hundred carts. In due course he reached the mouth
of the wilderness. There he had the water-chatties filled, putting in
an abundant supply of water. Then, sending a drum around the camp, he
assembled his men and spoke as follows: “Without first obtaining my
permission, you must not use so much as a dribble of water. In the
wilderness there are poison-trees: any leaf or flower or fruit which
you have not previously eaten, you must not eat without first obtaining
my permission.” Having thus admonished his men, he struck into the
wilderness with his five hundred carts.
When he reached the middle of the wilderness, that ogre showed himself
in the path of the Future Buddha in precisely the same way as before.
When the Future Buddha saw him, he knew: “In this wilderness is no
water; that is what is called a waterless wilderness. Moreover this
fellow is fearless, red-eyed, casts no shadow. Without a doubt this
fellow caused the foolish caravan-leader who went first to throw away
all his water, and having thus brought weariness upon him and his
company, devoured them. But, unless I am mistaken, he does not know how
wise and resourceful I am.”
Accordingly the Future Buddha said to the ogre: “You go your way. We
are traders. Unless we see water farther on, we shall not throw away
the water we have brought. But wherever we do see water, there we shall
throw away the water we have brought, and having thus lightened our
carts, shall continue our journey.” The ogre went a little way, and
when he was out of sight, went back again to his own city of ogres.
Now when the ogre had gone, the men asked the Future Buddha: “Noble
sir, these men said: ‘Do you see that dark green streak of woods?
Beyond that point it rains all the time.’ And the men who said it
approached garlanded with garlands of water-lilies both blue and white,
carrying clusters of lotus-flowers both red and white, chewing the
fibrous stalks of water-lilies, heads wet, garments wet, with drops of
water streaming from them. Let us throw away the water and go quickly
with lightened carts.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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