The Robbers and The Treasure

Once on a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in
Benares, there was a brahmin in a village who knew the
charm called Vedabbha. Now this charm, so they say,
was precious beyond all price. For, if at a certain con-
junction of the planets the charm was repeated and the
gaze bent upwards to the skies, straightway from the
heavens there rained the Seven Things of Price, gold,
silver, pearl, coral, catseye, ruby, and diamond.

In those days the Bodhisatta was a pupil of this brah-
min; and one day his master left the village on some
business or other, and came with the Bodhisatta to the
country of Ceti.

In a forest by the way dwelt five hundred robbers
known as "the Despatchers" -who made the way im-
passable. And these caught the Bodhisatta and the
Vedabbha-brahmin. (Why, you ask, were they called the
Despatchers? Well, the story goes that of every two
prisoners they made they used to despatch one to fetch
the ransom; and that's why they were called the De-
spatchers. If they captured a father and a son, they told
the father to go for the ransom to free his son; if they
caught a mother and her daughter, they sent the mother
for the money; if they caught two brothers, they let the
elder go; and so too, if they caught a teacher and
his pupil, it was the pupil they set free. In this case,
therefore, they kept the Vedabbha-brahmin, and sent the
Bodhisatta for the ransom.) And the Bodhisatta said
with a bow to his master, " In a day or two I shall surely
come back; have no fear; only fail not to do as I shall
say. To-day will come to pass the conjunction of the
planets which brings about the rain of the Things of
Price. Take heed lest, yielding to this mishap, you repeat
the charm and call down the precious shower. For, if
you do, calamity will certainly befall both you and this
band of robbers." With this warning to his master, the
Bodhisatta went his way in quest of the ransom.

At sunset the robbers bound the brahmin and laid
him by the heels. Just at this moment the full moon
rose over the eastern horizon, and the brahmin, studying
the heavens, knew that the great conjunction was taking
place. " Why," thought he, " should I suffer this misery ?
By repeating the charm I will call down the precious rain,
pay the robbers the ransom, and go free." So he called
out to the robbers, "Friends, why do you take me a
prisoner?" To get a ransom, reverend sir," said they.
"Well, if that is all you want," said the brahmin, "make
haste and untie me; have my head bathed, and new
clothes put on me; and let me be perfumed and decked
with flowers. Then leave me to mvself." The robbers
did as he bade them. And the brahmin, marking the
conjunction of the planets, repeated his charm with eyes
uplifted to the heavens. Forthwith the Things of Price
poured down from the skies! The robbers picked them
all up, wrapping their booty into bundles with their cloaks.
Then with their brethren they marched away; and the
brahmin followed in the rear. But, as luck would have
it, the party was captured by a second band of five
hundred robbers ! " Why do you seize us ? " said the first
to the second band. "For booty," was the answer. "If
booty is what you want, seize on that brahmin, who by
simply gazing up at the skies brought down riches as
rain. It was he who gave us all that we have got." So
the second band of robbers let the first band go, and
seized on the brahmin, crying, " Give us riches too ! " " It
would give me great pleasure," said the brahmin ; " but it
will be a year before the requisite conjunction of the
planets takes place again. If you will only be so good
as to wait till then, I will invoke the precious shower for
you."

"Rascally brahmin!" cried the angry robbers, "you
made the other band rich off-hand, but want us to wait
a whole year!" And they cut him in two with a sharp
sword, and flung his body in the middle of the road.
Then hurrying after the first band of robbers, they killed
every man of them too in hand-to-hand fight, and seized
the booty. Next, they divided into two companies and
fought among themselves, company against company, till
two hundred and fifty men were slain. And so they went
on killing one another, till only two were left alive. Thus
did those thousand men come to destruction.

Now, when the two survivors had managed to carry
off the treasure they hid it in the jungle near a village;
and one of them sat there, sword in hand, to guard it,
whilst the other went into the village to get rice and have
it cooked for supper. But true is the saying :
And greed is verily the root of ruin.

He who stopped by the treasure thought, " When my mate
comes back, he'll want half of this. Suppose I kill him
the moment he gets back." So he drew his sword and sat
waiting for his comrade's return.

Meanwhile, the other had equally reflected that the
booty had to be halved, and thought to himself, "Suppose
I poison the rice, and give it him to eat and so kill him,
and have the whole of the treasure to myself." Accord-
ingly, when the rice was boiled, he first ate his own share,
and then put poison in the rest, which he carried back
with him to the jungle. But scarce had he set it down,
when the other robber cut him in two with his sword, and
hid the body away in a secluded spot. Then he ate the
poisoned rice, and died then and there. Thus, by reason
of the treasure, not only the brahmin but all the robbers
came to destruction.

Howbeit, after a day or two the Bodhisatta came back
with the ransom. Not finding his master where he had
left him, but seeing treasure strewn all round about, his
heart misgave him that, in spite of his advice, his master
must have called down a shower of treasure from the
skies, and that all must have perished in consequence ;
and he proceeded along the road. On his way he came
to where his master's body lay cloven in twain upon the
way. "Alas!" he cried, "he is dead through not heeding
my warning." Then with gathered sticks he made a pyre
and burnt his master's body, making an offering of wild
flowers. Further along the road, he came upon the five
hundred " Despatchers," and further still upon the two
hundred and fifty, and so on by degrees until at last he
came to where lay only two corpses. Marking how of
the thousaud all but two had perished, and feeling sure
that there must be two survivors, and that these could
not refrain from strife, he pressed on to see where they
had gone. So on he went till he found the path by which
with the treasure they had turned into the jungle; and
there he found the heap of bundles of treasure, and one
robber lying dead with his rice-bowl overturned at his side.
Realising the whole story at a glance, the Bodhisatta set
himself to search for the missing man, and at last found
his body in the secret spot where it had been flung.
"And thus," mused the Bodhisatta, " through not following
my counsel my master in his self-will has been the means
of destroying not himself only but a thousand others also.
Truly, they that seek their own gain by mistaken and
misguided means shall reap ruin, even as my master."
And he repeated this stanza:

Misguided effort leads to loss, not gain;

Thieves killed Yedabbha and themsehes were slain.

Thus spake the Bodhisatta, and he went on to say,-
"And even as my master's misguided and misplaced effort
in causing the rain of treasure to fall from heaven wrought
both his own death and the destruction of others with
him, even so shall every other man who by mistaken means
seeks to compass his own advantage utterly perish and
involve others in his destruction." With these words did
the Bodhisatta make the forest ring; and in this stanza
did he preach the Truth, whilst the tree divinities shouted
applause. The treasure he contrived to carry oft* to his
own home, where he lived out his term of life in the
exercise of almsgiving and other good works. And when
his life closed, he departed to the heaven he had won.