Ingratitude Punished

Once upon a time, when king Brahmadatta reigned
over Benares, the Bodhisatta was born as his chief queen's
son. On his name-day, they called him Prince Paduma,
the Lotus Prince. After him came six younger brothers.
One after another these seven came of age and married
and settled down, living as the king's companions.

One day the king looked out into the palace courts,
and as he looked he saw these men with a great following
on their way to wait upon himself. He conceived the
suspicion that they meant to slay him, and seize his
kingdom. So he sent for them, and after this fashion
bespake them.

"My sons, you may not dwell in this town. So go
elsewhere, and when I die you shall return and take the
kingdom which belongs to our family."

They agreed to their father's words ; and went home
weeping and wailing. " It matters not where we go ! " they
cried ; and taking their wives with them, they left the city,
and journeyed along the road. By and by they came to
a wood, where they could get no food or drink. And
being unable to bear the pangs of hunger, they deter-
mined to save their lives at the women's cost. They
seized the youngest brother's wife, and slew her; they cut
up her body into thirteen parts, and ate it. But the
Bodhisatta and his wife set aside one portion, and ate
the other between them.

Thus they did six days, and slew and ate six of the
women; and each day the Bodhisatta set one portion
aside, so that he had six portions saved. On the seventh
day the others would have taken the Bodhisatta's wife to
kill her ; but instead he gave them the six portions which
he had kept. "Eat these," said he; "to-morrow I will
manage." They all did eat the flesh ; and when the time
came that they fell asleep, the Bodhisatta and his wife
made off together.

When they had gone a little space, the woman said,
" Husband, I can go no further." So the Bodhisatta took
her upon his shoulders, and at sunrise he came out of the
wood. When the sun was risen, said she "Husband, I
am thirsty ! "

" There is no water, dear wife ! " said he.

But she begged him again and again, until he struck
his right knee with his sword, and said,

" Water there is none ; but sit you down and drink the
blood here from my knee." And so she did.

By and by they came to the mighty Ganges. They
drank, they bathed, they ate all manner of fruits, and
rested in a pleasant spot. And there by a bend of the
river they made a hermit's hut and took up their abode
in it.

Now it happened that a robber in the regions of Upper
Ganges had been guilt} 7 of high treason. His hands and
feet, and his nose and ears had been cut off, and he was
laid in a canoe, and left to drift down the great river. To
this place he floated, groaning aloud with pain. The
Bodhisatta heard his piteous wailing.

" While I live," said he, " no poor creature shall perish
for me!" and to the river bank he went, and saved the
man. He brought him to the hut, and with astringent
lotions and ointments he tended his wounds.

But his wife said to herself, " Here is a nice lazy fellow
he has fetched out of the Ganges, to look after ! " and she
went about spitting for disgust at the fellow.

Now when the man's wounds were growing together,
the Bodhisatta had him to dwell there iii the hut along
with his wife, and he brought fruits of all kinds from the
forest to feed both him and the woman. And as they
thus dwelt together, the woman fell in love with the fellow,
and committed sin. Then she desired to kill the Bod-
hisatta, and said to him, " Husband, as I sat on your
shoulder when I came out from the forest, I saw yon hill,
and I vowed that if ever you and I should be saved, and
come to no harm, I would make offering to the holy spirit
of the hill. Now this spirit haunts me: and I desire to
pay my offering ! "

"Very good," said the Bodhisatta, not knowing her
guile. He prepared an offering, and delivering to her the
vessel of offering, he climbed the hill-top. Then his wife
said to him,

" Husband, not the hill-spirit, but you are my chief of
gods ! Then in your honour first of all I will offer wild
flowers, and walk reverently round you, keeping you on
the right, and salute you : and after that I will make my
offering to the mountain spirit." So saying, she placed him
facing a precipice, and pretended to salute him by offering
flowers and walking round him. Thus getting behind
him, she smote him on the back, and hurled him down
the precipice. Then she cried in her joy, "I have seen
the back of my enemy!" and she came down from the
mountain, and went into the presence of her paramour.

Now the Bodhisatta tumbled down the cliff; but he
stuck fast in a clump of leaves on the top of a fig-tree
where there were no thorns. Yet he could not get down
the hill, so there he sat among the branches, eating the
figs. It happened that a huge lizard king used to climb
the hill from the foot of it, and would eat the fruit of this
fig-tree. That day he saw the Bodhisatta and took to
flight. On the next day, he came and ate some fruit on
one side of it. Again and again he came, till at last he
struck up a friendship with the Bodhisatta.

" How did you get to this place ? " he asked ; and the
Bodhisatta told him how.

"Well, don't be afraid," said the lizard; and taking
him on his own back, he descended the hill and brought
him out of the forest. There he set him upon the high-
road, and shewed him what way he should go, and himself
returned to the forest.

The other proceeded to a certain village, and dwelt
there till he heard of his father's death. Upon this he
made his way to Benares. There he inherited the king-
dom which belonged to his family, and took the name of
King Lotus; the ten rules of righteousness for kings he
did not transgress, and he ruled uprightly. He built six
Halls of Bounty, one at each of the four gates, one in the
midst of the city, and one before the palace ; and every
day he distributed in gifts six hundred thousand pieces
of money.

Now the wicked wife took her paramour upon her
shoulders, and came forth out of the forest ; and she went
a-begging among the people, and collected rice and gruel
to support him withal. If she was asked what the man
was to her, she would reply, " His mother was sister to my
father, he is my cousin 1 ; to him they gave me. Even if
he were doomed to death I would take my own husband
upon my shoulders, and care for him, and beg food for
his living!"

" What a devoted wife ! " said all the people. And
thenceforward they gave her more food than ever. Some
of them also offered advice, saying, "Do not live in this
way. King Lotus is lord of Benares ; he has set all India
in a stir by his bounty. It will delight him to see you ;
so delighted will he be, that he will give you rich gifts.
Put your husband in this basket, and make your way to
him." So saying, they persuaded her, and gave her a
basket of osiers.

The wicked woman placed her paramour in the basket,
and taking it up she repaired to Benares, and lived on
what she got at the Halls of Bounty. Now the Bodhisatta
used to ride to an alms-hall upon the back of a splendid
elephant richly dight ; and after giving alms to eight or
ten people, he would set out again for home. Then the
wicked woman placed her paramour in the basket, and
taking it up, she stood where the king was used to pass.
The king saw her. "Who is this? " he asked. "A devoted
wife," was the answer. He sent for her, and recognised
who she was. He caused the man to be put down from
the basket, and asked her, "What is this man to you?"
-"He is the son of my fathers sister, given me by my
family, my own husband," she answered.

"Ah, what a devoted wife!" cried they all: for they
knew not the ins and outs of it; and they praised the
wicked woman.

" What is the scoundrel your cousin ? did your family
give him to you?" asked the king; "your husband, is
he?"

She did not recognise the king ; and " Yes, my lord ! "
said she, as bold as you like.

"And is this the king of Benares' son? Are you not
the wife of prince Lotus, the daughter of such and such
a king, your name so and so ? Did not you drink the
blood from my knee ? Did you not fall in love with this
rascal, and throw me down a precipice ? Ah, you thought
that I was dead, and here you are with death written
upon your own forehead and here am I, alive!" Then
he turned to his courtiers. "Do you remember what I
told you, when you questioned me? My six younger
brothers slew their six wives and ate them ; but I kept my
wife unhurt, and brought her to Ganges' bank, where I
dwelt in a hermit's hut: I hauled a condemned criminal
out of the river, and supported him; this woman fell in
love with him, and threw me down a precipice, but I saved
my life by shewing kindness. This is no other than the
wicked woman who threw me off the crag: this, and no
other, is the condemned wretch!" And then he uttered
the following verses:

'Tis I no other, and this quean is she;
The handless knave, no other, there you see;
Quoth she "This is the husband of my youth."
Women deserve to die; they have no truth.

With a great club beat out the scoundrel's life
Who lies in wait to steal his neighbour's wife.
Then take the faithful harlot by and by,
And shear off nose and ears before she die.

But although the Bodhisatta could not swallow his
anger, and ordained this punishment for them, he did not
do accordingly ; but he smothered his wrath, and had the
basket fixed upon her head so fast that she could not
take it off; the villain he had placed in the same, and
they were driven out of his kingdom.