The Goblin City

Once upon a time, there Avas in the island of Ceylon
a goblin town called Sirisavatthu, peopled by she-goblins.
When a ship is wrecked, these adorn and deck themselves,
and taking rice and gruel, with trains of slaves, and their
children on their hip, they come up to the merchants.
In order to make them imagine that theirs is a city of
human beings, they make them see here and there men
ploughing and tending kine, herds of cattle, dogs, and
the like. Then approaching the merchants they invite
them to partake of the gruel, rice, and other food which
they bring. The merchants, all unaware, eat of what is
offered. When they have eaten and drunken, and are
taking their rest, the goblins address them thus: "Where
do you live? where do you come from? whither are you
going, and what errand brought you here?" "We were
shipwrecked here," they reply. "Very good, noble sirs,"
the others make answer; "'tis three years ago since our
own husbands went on board ship ; they must have perished.
You are merchants too; we will be your wives." Thus
they lead them astray by their women's wiles, and tricks,
and dalliance, until they get them into the goblin city;
then, if they have any others already caught, they bind
these with magic chains, and cast them into the house of
torment. And if they find no shipwrecked men in the
place where they dwell, they scour the coast as far as the
river Kalyani 1 on one side and the island of Nagadipa on
the other. This is their way.

Now it happened once that five hundred shipwrecked
traders were cast ashore near the city of these she-goblins.
The goblins came up to them and enticed them, till they
brought them to their city; those whom they had caught
before, they bound with magic chains and cast them into
the house of torment. Then the chief goblin took the
chief man, and the others took the rest, till five hundred
had the five hundred traders; and they made the men
their husbands. Then in the night time, when her man
was asleep, the chief she-goblin rose up, and made her
way to the house of death, slew some of the men and ate
them. The others did the same. When the eldest goblin
returned from eating men's flesh, her body was cold. The
eldest merchant embraced her, and perceived that she
was a goblin. "All the five hundred of them must be
goblins!" he thought to himself: "we must make our
escape ! "

So in the early morning, when he went to wash his
face, he bespake the other merchants in these words.
" These are goblins, and not human beings ! As soon as
other shipwrecked men can be found, they will make them
their husbands, and will eat us ; come let us escape ! "

Two hundred and fifty of them replied, "We cannot
leave them : go ye, if ye will, but we will not flee away."

Then the chief trader with two hundred and fifty, who
were ready to obey him, fled away in fear of the goblins.

Now at that time, the Bodhisatta had come into the
world as a flying horse, white all over, and beaked like a
crow, with hair like munja grass, possessed of super-
natural power, able to fly through the air. From Himalaya
he flew through the air until he came to Ceylon. There
he passed over the ponds and tanks of Ceylon, and ate
the paddy that grew wild there. As he passed on thus,
he thrice uttered human speech filled with mercy, saying
-"Who wants to go home? who wants to go home?"
The traders heard his saying, and cried " We are going
home, master!" joining their hands, and raising them
respectfully to their foreheads. " Then climb up on my
back," said the Bodhisatta. Thereat some of them climbed
up, some laid hold of his tail, and some remained standing,
with a respectful salute. Then the Bodhisatta took up
even those who stood still saluting him, and conveyed all
of them, even two hundred and fifty, to their own country,
and set down each in his own place; then he went back
to his place of dwelling.

And the she-goblins, when other men came to that
place, slew those two hundred and fifty who were left, and
devoured them.