The Flight of the Beasts

Once upon a time when Brahmadatta reigned in
Benares, the Bodhisatta came to life as a young lion.
And when fully grown he lived in a wood. At this time
there -was near the Western Ocean a grove of palms
mixed with vilva trees. A certain hare lived here beneath
a palm sapling, at the foot of a vilva tree. One day this
hare after feeding came and lay down beneath the young-
palm tree. And the thought struck him : " If this earth
should be destroyed, what would become of me?" And
at this very moment a ripe vilva fruit fell on a palm leaf.

At the sound of it, the hare thought : " This solid earth is
collapsing," and starting up he fled, without so much as
looking behind him. Another hare saw him scampering
off, as if frightened to death, and asked the cause of his
panic flight. "Pray, don't ask me," he said. The other
hare cried, " Pray, Sir, what is it ? " and kept running after
him. Then the hare stopped a moment and without look-
ing back said, " The earth here is breaking up." And at
this the second hare ran after the other. And so first
one and then another hare caught sight of him running,
and joined in the chase till one hundred thousand hares
all took to flight together. They were seen by a deer, a
boar, an elk, a buffalo, a wild ox, a rhinoceros, a tiger,
a lion and an elephant. And when they asked what it
meant and were told that the earth was breaking up, they
too took to flight. So by degrees this host of animals
extended to the length of a full league.

When the Bodhisatta saw this headlong flight of the
animals, and heard the cause of it was that the earth was
coming to an end, he thought: "The earth is nowhere
coming to an end. Surely it must be some sound which
was misunderstood by them. And if I don't make a great
effort, they will all perish. I will save their lives." So
with the speed of a lion he got before them to the foot of a
mountain, and lion-like roared three times. They were
terribly frightened at the lion, and stopping in their flight
stood all huddled together. The lion went in amongst
them and asked why they were running away.

" The earth is collapsing," they answered.

" Who saw it collapsing ? " he said.

" The elephants know all about it," they replied.

He asked the elephants. " We don't know," they said,
"the lions know." But the lions said, "We don't know,
the tigers know." The tigers said, "The rhinoceroses
know." The rhinoceroses said, "The wild oxen know."
The wild oxen, " the buffaloes." The buffaloes, " the elks."
The elks, "the boars." The boars, "the deer." The deer
said, " We don't know, the hares know." When the hares
were questioned, they pointed to one particular hare and
said, " This one told us."

So the Bodhisatta asked, " Is it true, Sir, that the earth
is breaking up ? "

" Yes, Sir, I saw it," said the hare.

"Where," he asked, "were you living, when you
saw it

"Near the ocean, Sir, in a grove of palms mixed
with vilva trees. For as I was lying beneath the shade
of a palm sapling at the foot of a vilva tree, methought,
' If this earth should break up, where shall I go ? ' And at
that very moment I heard the sound of the breaking up
of the earth and I fled."

Thought the lion: "A ripe vilva fruit evidently must
have fallen on a palm leaf and made a 'thud,' and this
hare jumped to the conclusion that the earth was coming
to an end, and ran away. I will find out the exact truth
about it." So he reassured the herd of animals, and said,
" I will take the hare and go and find out exactly whether
the earth is coming to an end or not, in the place pointed
out by him. Until I return, do you stay here." Then
placing the hare on his back, he sprang forward with the
speed of a lion, and putting the hare down in the palm
grove, he said, " Come, shew us the place you meant."

" I dare not, my lord," said the hare.

" Come, don't be afraid," said the lion.

The hare, not venturing to go near the vilva tree,
stood afar off and cried, "Yonder, Sir, is the place of
dreadful sound," and so saying, he repeated the first
stanza :

From the spot where I did dwell

Issued forth a fearful 'thud';
What it was I could not tell,

Nor what caused it understood.

After hearing what the hare said, the lion went to the
foot of the vilva tree, and saw the spot where the hare
had been lying beneath the shade of the palm tree, and
the ripe vilva fruit that fell on the palm leaf, and having
carefully ascertained that the earth had not broken
up, he placed the hare on his back and with the speed of
a lion soon came again to the herd of beasts.

Then he told them the whole story, and said, " Don't
be afraid." And having thus reassured the herd of beasts,
he let them go. Verily, if it had not been for the Bodhi-
satta at that time, all the beasts would have rushed into
the sea and perished. It was all owing to the Bodhisatta
that they escaped death.