Now on one side of this wood was a mountain, on another a river, and on another a border village. And there were three other animals that were his comrades,-a monkey, a jackal, and an otter. These four wise creatures dwelt together, catching their prey each in his own hunting-ground, and at night resorting together. And the wise hare would exhort the other three and teach them the Doctrine, saying, "Give alms, keep the precepts, and observe fast-days." Then the three would approve of his admonition, and go each to his own lair in the thicket, and spend the night.

Time was going by in this manner, when one day the Future Buddha looked up into the sky and saw the moon, and perceived that the next day would be fast-day. Then said he to the others:

"To-morrow is fast-day. Do you three keep the precepts and observe the day; and as alms given while keeping the precepts bring great reward, if any suppliants present themselves give them to eat of your own food."

"Very well," said they, and passed the night in their lairs. On the next day the otter started out early, and went to the banks of the Ganges to hunt for prey. Now a fisherman had caught seven red-fish and strung them on a vine, and buried them in the sand on the banks of the Ganges, and had then gone on down-stream catching fish as he went. The otter smelt the fishy odor, and scraping away the sand, perceived the fish and drew them out. Then he called out three times, "Does any one own these?" and when he saw no owner, he bit hold of the vine with his teeth, and drew them to his lair in the thicket. There he lay down, remembering that he was keeping the precepts, and thinking, "I will eat these at the proper time."

And the jackal also went out to hunt for prey, and found in the hut of a field-watcher two spits of meat, and one iguana, and a jar of sour cream. Then he called out three times, "Does any one own these?" and when he saw no owner, he placed the cord that served as a handle for the jar of sour cream about his neck, took hold of the spits of meat and of the iguana with his teeth, and brought them home, and placed them in his lair in the thicket. Then he lay down, remembering that he was keeping the precepts, and thinking, "I will eat these at the proper time."

And the monkey also, entering the forest, fetched home a bunch of mangoes, and placed them in his lair in the thicket.

Then he lay down, remembering that he was keeping the precepts, and thinking, "I will eat these at the proper time."

The Future Buddha, however, remained in his thicket, thinking, "At the proper time I will go out and eat dabba-grass." Then he thought, "If any suppliants come, they will not want to eat grass, and I have no sesamum, rice, or other such food. If any suppliant comes, I will give him of my own flesh."

Such fieriness of zeal in keeping the precepts caused the marble throne of Sakka to grow hot. Then, looking carefully, Sakka discovered the cause, and proposed to himself to try the And disguised as a brahman, he went first to the lair of the otter.

"Brahman, why stand you there?" said the otter.

Said he, "Pandit, if I could but get something to eat, I would keep fast-day vows, and perform the duties of a monk."

"Very well," said the otter: "I will give you some food." And he addressed him with the first stanza:

"Some red-fish have I, seven in all,

Found stranded on the river bank.
All these, O brahman, are my own:
Come eat, and dwell within this wood.»

"I will return a little later," said the brahman; "let the matter rest until to-morrow."

Then he went to the jackal. And the latter also asking, "Why stand you there?" the brahman answered the same as before.

"Very well," said the jackal: "I will give you some food." And he addressed him with the second stanza:

"A watchman guards the field close by,

His supper have I ta'en away:
Two spits of meat, iguana one,

One dish of butter clarified.

All these, O brahman, are my own:

Come eat, and dwell within this wood."

"I will return a little later," said the brahman; "let the matter rest until to-morrow."

Then he went to the monkey.

And the latter also asking,

"Why stand you there?" the brahman answered the same as

before.

"Very well," said the monkey: "I will give you some food.” And he addressed him with the third stanza:

"Ripe mangoes, water clear and cold,
And cool and pleasant woodland shade,—
All these, O brahman, are my own:

Come eat, and dwell within this wood."

"I will return a little later," said the brahman: "let the matter rest until to-morrow."

Then he went to the wise hare. And he also asking, "Why stand you there?" the brahman answered the same as before.

The Future Buddha was delighted. "Brahman," said he, "you have done well in coming to me for food. To-day I will give alms such as I never gave before; and you will not have broken the precepts by destroying life. Go, my friend, and gather wood, and when you have made a bed of coals, come and tell me. I will sacrifice my life by jumping into the bed of live coals. And as soon as my body is cooked, do you eat of my flesh, and perform the duties of a monk.” And he addressed him with the fourth stanza:

"The hare no seed of sesamum

Doth own, nor beans, nor winnowed rice.
But soon my flesh this fire shall roast:
Then eat, and dwell within this wood."

When Sakka heard this speech, he made a heap of live coals by his superhuman power, and came and told the Future Buddha. The latter rose from his couch of dabba-grass, and went to the spot. And saying, "If there are any insects in my fur, I must not let them die," he shook himself three times. Then throwing his whole body into the jaws of his liberality, he jumped into the bed of coals, as delighted in mind as a royal flamingo when he alights in a cluster of lotuses. The fire, however, was unable to make hot so much as a hair-pore of the Future Buddha's body. He felt as if he had entered the abode of cold above the clouds. Then, addressing Sakka, he said:

"Brahman, the fire you have made is exceeding cold, and is not able to make hot so much as a hair-pore of my body. What does it mean?”

Pandit, I am no brahman: I am Sakka, come to try you."

(( Sakka, your efforts are useless; for if all beings who dwell in the world were to try me in respect of my liberality, they would not discover in me any unwillingness to give." Thus the Future Buddha thundered.

"Wise hare," said then Sakka, "let your virtue be proclaimed to the end of this world-cycle." And taking a mountain, he squeezed it, and with the juice drew the outline of a hare in the disk of the moon. Then in that wood, and in that thicket, he placed the Future Buddha on some tender dabba-grass, and taking leave of him, departed to his own celestial abode.

And these four wise creatures lived happily and harmoniously, and kept the precepts, and observed fast-days, and passed away according to their deeds.

When the Teacher had given this instruction, he expounded the truths, and identified the characters of the Birth-story (at the close of the exposition of the truths, the householder who had given all the requisites became established in the fruit of conversion): —

"In that existence the otter was Ananda, the jackal was Moggallana, the monkey was Sariputta, while the wise hare was I myself."

COUNT NOT YOUR CHICKENS BEFORE THEY BE HATCHED From the Panchatantra,' Book v., Fable 9

[This is the well-known tale of the Milkmaid who poised a full pail on her head, La Fontaine's 'Perrette' (vii. 10). It recurs in the Arabian Nights (Night 716), and often elsewhere.*]

Ο ONC

NCE upon a time there lived in a certain town a brahman named Luckless. He begged a lot of barley grits; and with what he had left over from his dinner, he filled a jar. This he hung on a low peg in the wall, put his cot beneath it, and looking at it with unaverted gaze, he bethought him:"This pot is full of barley grits, and if there comes a famine, will fetch me a hundred pieces of silver. With them I shall buy me a couple of she-goats; and as they will drop kids every six months, I shall soon have a herd from them. For the goats I

* See the mutations of this tale in the selection from Max Müller, in the present work.

shall get many cows; for the cows, buffalo-cows; and for them, mares; and when they have foaled, I shall have many horses; and from the sale of them, much gold. With the gold I'll get a house with four rooms, about a court. And then some brahman will come to my house, and give me his lovely daughter, with a rich dowry in marriage.

"She will bear me a son, and I'll name him Soma-çarman. When he's old enough for me to trot him on my knee, I'll take a book, and sitting out behind the stable, I'll study it. Then Soma-çarman, seeing me, and eager to be trotted on my knee, will leave his mother's lap, and in coming to me will get right near the horses' hoofs. And I, full of anger, shall say to my wife, 'Take the child, quick!' She, busy with housework, won't hear me, and I shall get up and give her a kick."

Deep sunk in thought, he gave such a kick that he broke the jar, and the grits ran down over him till he was well whitened.

Translation of Charles R. Lanman.

THE TRANSFORMED MOUSE

From the 'Panchatantra,' Book iii., Fable 12

N THE bank of the Ganges, whose billows are flecked with white foam made by the fish that dart in terror at the roar of the waters breaking on its craggy shores, there is a hermitage filled with ascetics. They are given over to prayer, restraint of the senses, asceticism, study of holy writ, fasting, and meditation. They take very pure and very little water. They mortify the flesh by a diet of bulbs, roots, fruits, and waterplants. They wear only an apron of bast.

There was one among them named Yajnavalkya. He had performed his sacred ablutions in the Ganges, and was about to rinse his mouth, when into his hand there fell from the beak of a hawk a little mouse. On seeing it, he put it on a banyanleaf, bathed again and rinsed his mouth, performed rites of expiation and so forth; and then by the power of his asceticism he changed the mouse into a girl, took her with him to his hermitage, and said to his wife, who was childless, "My dear, take this girl as your daughter, and bring her up carefully."