A King's life saved by spells

Once upon a time when Brahmadatta reigned in Be-
nares, the Bodhisatta was a far-famed teacher at Takkasila
and trained many young princes and sons of brahmins in
the arts. Now the son of the king of Benares, when he
was sixteen years old, came to him and after he had
acquired the three Vedas and all the liberal arts and
was perfect in them, he took leave of his master. The
teacher regarding him by his gift of prognostication
thought, " There is danger coming to this man through his
son. By my magic power I will deliver him from it." And
composing four stanzas he gave them to the young prince
and spoke as follows : " My son, after you are seated on
the throne, when your sou is sixteen years old, utter the
first stanza while eating your rice ; repeat the second
stanza at the time of the great levee ; the third, as you
are ascending to the palace roof, standing at the head of
the stairs, and the fourth, when entering the royal chamber,
as you stand on the threshold."

The prince readily assented to this and saluting his
teacher went away. And after acting as viceroy, on his
father's death he ascended the throne. His son, when he was
sixteen years of age, on the king's going forth to take his
pleasure in the garden, observing his father's majesty and
power was filled with a desire to kill him and seize upon
his kingdom, and spoke to his attendants about it. They
said, "True, Sir, what is the good of obtaining power,
when one is old ? You must by some means or other kill
the king and possess yourself of his kingdom." The
prince said, " I will kill him by putting poison in his food."
So he took some poison and sat down to eat his evening
meal with his father. The king, when the rice was just
served in the bowl, spoke the first stanza:

With sense so nice, the husks from rice

Eats keen are to discriminate:
They cared not much the husks to touch,

But grain by grain the rice they ate.

" I am discovered," thought the prince, and not daring
to administer the poison in the bowl of rice, he rose up
and bowing to the king went away. He told the story to
his attendants and said, " To-day I am found out. How now
shall I kill him ? " From this day forth they lay concealed
in the garden, and consulting together in whispers said,
"There is still one expedient. When it is time to attend the
great levee, gird on your sword, and taking your stand
amongst the councillors, when you see the king off* his
guard, you must strike him a blow with your sword and
kill him." Thus they arranged it. The prince readily
agreed, and at the time of the great levee, he girt on his
sword and moving about from place to place looked out
for an opportunity to strike the king. At this moment the
king uttered the second stanza :

The secret counsel taken in the wood

By me is understood:
The village plot soft whispered in the ear

That too I hear.

Thought the prince, " My father knows that I am his
enemy," and ran away and told his attendants. After the
lapse of seven or eight days they said, " Prince, your father
is ignorant of your feeling towards him. You only fancy
this in your own mind. Put him to death." So one day
he took his sword and stood at the top of the stairs in the
royal closet. The king standing at the head of the stair-
case spoke the third stanza:

A monkey once did cruel measures take
His tender offspring- impotent to make.

Thought the prince, "My father wants to seize me,"
and in his terror he fled away and told his attendants he
had been threatened by his father. After the lapse of a
fortnight they said, " Prince, if the king knew this, he
would not have put up with it so long a time. Your
imagination suggests this to you. Put him to death." So
one day he took his sword and entering the royal chamber
on the upper floor of the palace he lay down beneath the
couch, intending to slay the king, as soon as he came.
At the close of the evening meal, the king sent his
retinue away, wishing to lie down, and entering the royal
chamber, as he stood on the threshold, he uttered the
fourth stanza:

Thy cautious creeping- ways

Like one-eyed g-oat in mustard field that strays,
And who thou art that lurkest here below,

This too I know.

Thought the prince, "My father has found me out.
Now he will put me to death." And seized with fear he
came out from beneath the couch, and throwing down his
sword at the king's feet and saying, " Pardon me, my lord,"
he lay grovelling before him. The king said, " You thought,
no one knows what I am about." And after rebuking
him he ordered him to be bound in chains and put
into the prison house, and set a guard over him. Then
the king meditated on the virtues of the Bodhisatta. And
by and by he died. When they had celebrated his funeral
rites, they took the young prince out of prison and set him
on the throne.