The Choice of a Husband

Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta ruled in Benares,
the Bodhisatta was born as a brahmin's son. He came
of aj>'e, and received his education at Takkasila; then on
returning he became a famous teacher.

Now there was a brahmin who had four daughters.
These four were wooed by four persons as told above 1 .
The brahmin could not decide to whom to give them.
" I will enquire of the teacher," he thought, " and then he
shall have them to whom they should be given." So he
came into the teacher's presence, and repeated the first
couplet:

One is good, and one is noble ; one has beauty, one has years.

Answer me this question, brahmin; of the four, which best appears?

Hearing this, the teacher replied, " Even though there
be beauty and the like qualities, a man is to be despised
if he fail in virtue. Therefore the former is not the
measure of a man ; those that I like are the virtuous." And
in explanation of this matter, he repeated the second
couplet:

Good is beauty: to the aged shew respect, for this is right:
Good is noble birth; but virtue virtue, that is my delight.

When the brahmin heard this, he gave all his daughters
to the virtuous wooer.