Timely Advice

Gajamukha set out on his
travels, but much to his anno-
yance, the king ordered some
bodyguards to accompany him.
He could not help it. But he
.did not take the king's advices
seriously.

Gajamukha and his atten-
dants reached a dense forest,
and the prince desired to go
hunting alone. He was irked
by the guards who were cons-
tantly advising him against en-
tering the forest and told them,
"Listen, men! Go and see for
yourself how safe the path is.
Then 1 will decide whether or
not I should go into the forest."

So the two guards left the
prince alone and went to spy on
the land. As soon as they had
disappeared from view, Gaja-
mukha plunged into the dense
forest in search of some prey
and was soon thrilled by the
sight of a tiger which charged
him with a booming roar. As



the prince was looking for just
such an opportunity, he drew
out his sword and attacked the
tiger. Ultimately, his sword
pierced the heart of the beast
and it rolled over, dead. Elated
at this victory, the prince
thought that he was capable of
tackling any danger all by
himself. Of what use were the
bodyguards?

When he had gone some dis
tance into the forest he heard
sharp growls and taking a turn,
he saw three fierce looking bears
advancing towards him. Quic-
kly he put his hand to his
sword and discovered to his
dismay that he had left it be-
hind at the spot where he had



rested after killing the tiger.
Then he suddenly remembered
his father's injunction and
promptly lying prostrate on the
ground held his breath. It seemed
a long time during which
the bears came up, sniffed him
and went away without har-
ming him. After they had gone,
the Prince got up and retraced
his steps to where he had left
his sword. Picking up the
sword he went back further to
meet his guards. But they were
not to be seen, as they had
gone off in search of the prince.

Gajamukha set out alone
and came to a stream. Dusty
and wea ry a f te r his s t r uggle
with the tiger, he decided to



bathe, and leaving his clothes
on the bank plunged into the
stream.

When he emerged from his
bath, he saw to his annoyance
that someone had taken away
his clothes. He looked around
but could see nobody. When
he looked up he saw several
monkeys chattering excitedly.
They waved the clothes they
had lifted from the ground.
Gajamukha realised that if his
guards were there this would
not have happened. At last he



began throwing stones at the
monkeys and they imitating his
action, threw back the clothes
at him. When the prince picked
them up, he saw that they were
in shreds. But there was no
help to it. Donning the torn
raiments he set out to search-
for his guards. Just then they
came to the stream and the
prince was reunited with them.

But the prince had learnt his
lesson and from on that day he
listened to his father carefully
and obeyed him.