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So the caravan owner then put five hundred pennies in a bundle, one for each cart, and tied it round his neck. The Bull said to himself: " This fellow is not giving me wages according to the rate agreed upon. I shan't let him go on now ! " And so he went and stood in the way of the front cart, and they tried in vain to get him away. The caravan owner thought : " He knows, I suppose, that the pay is too little ; " and wrapping a thousand pieces in a cloth, tied them up in a bundle, and hung that round 86 THE BUDDHA (TO BE) AS BULL his neck. And as soon as he got the bundle with a thousand inside, he went off to his " mother." Then the village children called out : " See ! what's that round the neck of the old woman's Blackie ? " and began to run up to him. But he chased after them, so that they took to their heels before they got near him ; and he went straight to his "mother." And he appeared with eyes all bloodshot, utterly ex- hausted from dragging over so many carts. " How did you get this, dear ? " said the good old woman, when she saw the bag round his neck. And when she heard, on inquiry from the herdsmen, what had happened, she exclaimed : " Am I so anxious, then, to live on the fruit of your toil, my darling ! Why do you put yourself to all this pain ? " And she bathed him in warm water, and rubbed him all over with oil, and gave him to drink, and fed him up with good food. And at the end of her life she passed away according to her deeds, and the Bodisat with her. THE POWER OF KIND THOUGHTS THE BUDDHA (TO BE) AS BRAHMIN : ILLUSTRATING THE POWER OF KIND THOUGHTS At that time the Bodisat was born as a nobleman's son. On the naming - day they gave him the name of Prince Magna, and when he grew up he was known as " Magha the young Brahmin." His parents procured him a wife from a family of equal rank ; and, increasing in sons and daughters, he became a great giver of gifts, and kept the Five Commandments. In that village there were as many as thirty families ; and one day the men of those families stopped in the middle of the village to transact some village business. The Bodisat removed with his feet the lumps of soil on the place where he stood, and made the spot convenient to stand on ; but another came 89 90 THE BUDDHA (TO BE) AS BRAHMIN up and stood there. Then he smoothed out another spot, and took his stand there ; but another man came and stood upon it. Still the Bodisat tried again and again, with the same result, until he had made convenient standing-room for all the thirty. The next time he had an open-roofed shed put up there ; and then pulled that down, and built a hall, and had benches spread in it, and a water-pot placed there. On another occasion those thirty men were reconciled by the Bodisat, who confirmed them in the Five Commandments ; and thenceforward he continued with them in works of piety. Whilst they were so living they used to rise up early, go out with bill - hooks and crowbars in their hands, tear up with the crowbars the stones in the four high roads and village paths, and roll them away, take away the trees which would be in the way of vehicles, make the rough places plain, form causeways, dig ponds, build public halls, give gifts, and keep the Commandments — thus, in many ways, all the dwellers in the village listened to the exhortations of the Bodisat, and kept the Commandments. THE POWER OF KIND THOUGHTS 91 Now the village headman said to himself: " 1 used to have great gain from fines, and taxes, and pot - money, when these fellows drank strong drink, or took life, or broke the other Commandments. But now Magna the young Brahmin has determined to have the Commandments kept, and permits none to take life, or to do anything else that is wrong. I'll make them keep the Commandments with a vengeance ! " And he went in a rage to the King, and said : " O King ! there are a number of robbers going about sacking the villages ! " " Go and bring them up ! " said the King in reply. And he went, and brought back all those men as prisoners, and had it announced to the King that the robbers were brought up. And the King, without inquiring what they had done, gave orders to have them all trampled to death by elephants ! Then they made them all lie down in the courtyard, and fetched the elephant. And the Bodisat exhorted them, saying : " Keep the Commandments in mind. Regard them all — the slanderer, and the King, and the 92 THE BUDDHA (TO BE) AS BRAHMIN elephant — -with feelings as kind as yon harbour towards yourselves ! " And they did so. Then men led up the elephant ; but though they brought him to the spot, he would not begin his work, but trumpeted forth a mighty cry, and took to flight. And they brought up another and another, but they all ran away. " There must be some drug in their posses- sion," said the King ; and gave orders to have them searched. So they searched, but found nothing, and told the King so. " Then they must be repeating some spell. Ask them if they have any spell to utter." The officials asked them, and the Bodisat said there was. And they told the King, and he had them all called before him, and said : " Tell me that spell you know ! " Then the Bodisat spoke, and said : " O King ! we have no other spell but this — that we destroy no life, not even of grass ; that we take nothing which is not given to us ; that we are never guilty of unfaithfulness, nor speak falsehood, nor drink intoxicants ; that we exercise ourselves in love, and give gifts ; THE POWER OF KIND THOUGHTS 93 that we make rough places plain, dig ponds, and put up rest-houses — this is our spell, this is our defence, this is our strength ! " Then the King had confidence in them, and gave them all the property in the house of the slanderer, and made him their slave ; and bestowed, too, the elephant upon them, and made them a grant of the village. OUR DUTY TO THE NEXT GENERATION THE BUDDHA (TO BE) AS TREE-SPIRIT : ILLUSTRATING OUR DUTY TO THE NEXT GENERATION And it came to pass that the Buddha was re-born as a Tree- Spirit. Now there reigned (at Benares) at that time a King who said to himself : " All over India, the kings live in palaces supported by many a column. / will build me a palace resting on one column only — then shall I in truth be the chiefest of all kings." Now in the King's Park was a lordly Sal tree, straight and well-grown, worshipped by village and town, and to this tree even the Royal Family also paid tribute, worship, and honour. And then suddenly there came an order from the King that the tree should be cut down. And the people were sore dismayed, but the woodmen, who dared not disobey the 97 g 98 THE BUDDHA (TO BE) AS TREE-SPIRIT orders of the King, repaired to the Park, with hands full of perfumed garlands, and encircling the tree with a string, fastened to it a nose- gay of flowers, and kindling a lamp, they did worship, exclaiming : " O Tree ! on the seventh day must we cut thee down, for so hath the King commanded. Now let the Deities who dwell within thee go elsewhither, and since we are only obeying the King's command, let no blame fall upon us, and no harm come to our children because of this." And the Spirit who lived in the tree, hear- ing these words, reflected within himself and said : " These builders are determined to cut down this tree, and to destroy my place of dwelling. Now my life lasts only as long as this tree. And lo ! all the young Sal trees that stand around, where dwell the Deities my kinsfolk — and they are many — will be destroyed ! My own destruction does not touch me so near as the destruction of my children : therefore must I protect their lives." Accordingly, at the hour of midnight, adorned in divine splendour, he entered into the magnificent chamber of the King, and OUR DUTY TO THE NEXT GENERATION 99 filling the whole chamber with a bright radiance, stood weeping beside the King's pillow. At the sight of him, the King, over- come with terror, said : " Who art thou, stand- ing high in the air, and why do thy tears flow ? " And the Tree-God made answer : " Within thy realm I am known as the Lucky-Tree.