The Ungrateful Son

Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of
Benares, there was in a family of a certain village of Kasi
an only son named Vasitthaka. This man supported his
parents, and after his mother's death, he supported his
father as has been described in the introduction 2 . But

1 Maliya and Pingiya probably refer to the colour of the dogs; Caturaksha, 'four-
eyed,' is one of Yama's dogs in the Rigveda x. 14, 10 ; Jambuka is a spirit in the train
of Skanda.

2 In the introductory story the father provides his son with a wife, who pretends
to be fond of her father-in-law, but sets him at variance with her husband.
there is this difference. When the woman said, "Look
there ! that is your father's doing ! I am constantly
begging him not to do this and that, and he only gets
angry ! " she went on, " My lord, your father is fierce and
harsh, for ever picking quarrels. A decrepit old man
like that, tormented with disease, is bound to die soon ;
and I can't live in the same house with him. He will die
of himself before many days are out ; well, take him to a
cemetery, and dig a pit, throw him in and break his head
with the spade; and when he is dead, shovel the earth
upon him, and leave him there." At last, by dint of this
dinning in his ears, said he, "Wife, to kill a man is a
serious matter: how can I do it?" "I will tell you of
a way, 1 ' quoth she. " Say on, then." -" Well, my lord, at
break of day, go to the place where your father sleeps;
tell him very loud, that all may hear, that a debtor of his
is in a certain village, that you went and he would not pay
you, and that if he dies the man will never pay at all ; and
say that you will both drive there together in the morning.
Then at the appointed time get up, and put the animals to
the cart, and take him in it to the cemetery. When you get
there, bury him in a pit, make a noise as if you had been
robbed, wound and wash your head, and return." "Yes,
that plan will do," said Vasitthaka. He agreed to her
proposal, and got the cart ready for the journey.

Now the man had a son, a lad of seven years, but wise
and clever. The lad overheard what his mother said. " My
mother/' thought he, " is a wicked woman, and is trying to
persuade father to murder his father. I will prevent my
father from doing this murder." He ran quickly, and lay
down beside his grandsire. Vasitthaka, at the time sug-
gested by the wife, prepared the cart. " Come, father, let
us get that debt ! " said he, and placed his father in the
cart. But the boy got in first of all. Vasitthaka could
not prevent him, so he took him to the cemetery with them.
Then, placing his father and his son together in a place
apart, with the cart, he got down, took spade and basket,
and in a spot where he was hidden from them began to dig
a square hole. The boy got down, and followed him, and
as though ignorant what was afoot, opened a conversation
by repeating the first stanza :

No bulbs are here, no herbs for cooking 1 meet,
No catmint, nor no other plant to eat.
Then father, why this pit, if need be none,
Delve in Death's acre mid the woods alone?

Then his father answered by repeating the second
stanza :

Thy grandsire, son, is very weak and old,
Opprest by pain from ailments manifold:
Him will I bury in a pit to-day ;
In such a life I could not wish him stay.

Hearing this, the boy answered by repeating a half-
stanza :

Thou hast done sinfully in wishing 1 this,
And for the deed, a cruel deed it is.

With these words, he caught the spade from his father's
hands, and at no great distance began to dig another pit.

His father approaching asked why he dug that pit ; to
whom he made reply by finishing the third stanza :

I too, when thou art aged, father mine,
Will treat my father as thou treatest thine;
Following- the custom of the family
Deep in a pit I too will bury thee.

To this the father replied by repeating the fourth
stanza :

What a harsh saying 1 for a boy to say,
And to upbraid a father in this way!
To think that my own son should rail at me,
And to his truest friend unkind should be!

When the father had thus spoken, the wise lad recited
three stanzas, one by way of answer, aiid two as a solemn
utterance :

I am uot harsh, my father, nor unkind,
Nay, I regard thee with a friendly mind:
But this thou dost, this act of sin, thy son
Will have no strength to undo again, once done.

Whoso, Vasittha, hurts with ill intent
His mother or his father, innocent,
He, when the body is dissolved, shall be
In hell for his next life undoubtedly.

Whoso with meat and drink, Yasittha, shall
His mother or his father feed withal,
He, when the body is dissolved, shall be
In heaven for his next life undoubtedly.

The father, after hearing his son thus discourse,
repeated the eighth stanza :

Thou art no heartless iugrate, son, I see,
But kindly-hearted, my son, to me;
'Twas in obedience to thy mother's word
I thought to do this horrid deed abhorred.

Said the lad, when he heard this, "Father, women,
when a wrong is done and they are not rebuked, again
and again commit sin. You must bend my mother, that
she may never again do such a deed as this." And he
repeated the ninth stanza:

That wife of yours, that ill-conditioned dame,
My mother, she that brought me forth that same,
Let us from out our dwelling far expel,
Lest she work other woe on thee as well.

Hearing the words of his wise son, well pleased was
Yasitthaka, and saying, " Let us go, my son ! " he seated
himself in the cart with son and father and set off.

Now the woman too, this sinner, was happy at heart ;
for, thought she, this ill-luck is out of the house now. She
plastered the place with w r et cowdung, and cooked a mess
of rice porridge. But as she sat watching the road by
which they would return, she espied them coming. " There
he is, back with old ill-luck again ! " thought she, much in
anger. "Fie, good-for-nothing!" cried she, "what, bring
back the ill-luck you took away with you ! " Yasitthaka
said not a word, but unyoked the cart. Then said he,
"Wretch, what is that you say?" He gave her a sound
drubbing, and bundled her head over heels out of doors,
bidding her never darken his door again. Then he bathed
his father and his son, and took a bath himself, and the
three of them ate the rice porridge. The sinful woman
dwelt for a few days in another house.

Then the son said to his father : " Father, for all this
my mother does not understand. Now let us try to vex
her. You give out that in such and such a village lives a
niece of yours, who will attend upon your father and your
son and you; so you will go and fetch her. Then take
flowers and perfumes, set off with your cart, and ride
about the country all day, returning in the evening." And
so he did. The w r omen in the neighbour's family told
his wife this ; " Have you heard," said they, " that your
husband has gone to get another wife in such a place ? "
" Ah, then I am undone ! " quoth she, " and there is no
place for me left ! " But she would enquire of her son ; so
quickly she came to him, and fell at his feet, crying " Save
thee I have no other refuge ! Henceforward I will tend
your father and grandsire as I would tend a beauteous
shrine ! Give me entrance into this house once more ! "
" Yes, mother," replied the lad, " if you do no more as you
did, I will ; be in earnest ! " and at his father's coming
he repeated the tenth stanza:

That wife of yours, that ill-conditioned dame,

My mother, she that Drought me forth, that same,

Like a tamed elephant, in full control,

Let her return again, that sinful soul.

So said he to his father, and then went and summoned
his mother. She, being reconciled to her husband and the
husband's father, was thenceforward tamed, and endued
with righteousness, and watched over her husband and his
father and her son ; and these two, steadfastly following
their son's advice, gave alms and did good deeds, and
became destined to join the hosts of heaven.