252 FOLK-TALES OF INDIA
On hearing this he thought—" Oh ! alas ! what fools ! what idiots! They are actually doing mischief, and all the while they imagine they are even doing good."
Then he spake the following gdtha : —
" Well-meaning fools will blunder o'er their work, By wrong devices they no good achieve; But mischief work, though well they mean to do, Just like this foolish ape that spoilt the trees."
After the wise man had thus addressed the monkey-chief, in the foregoing verse, he, with his retinue, left the royal gardens.
The Varuni JAtaka.*
The Fool who spoilt his Master'^ s Spints.
Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta reigned at Benares, the Bodhisat was a wealthy citizen in that city, and near him lived a dealer in spirits. He, having laid in a stock of ardent spirits, directed his apprentice to sell while he went away to bathe. This novice (who had seen some persons sucking rocksalt as they came to buy, and thought that the spirits needed salt) as soon as his master was gone actually put salt into the spirits and by that means spoilt their plea- sant flavour. When his master returned and learnt what had hap- pened he informed the Bodhisat, who remarked that bungling fools do harm even while bent upon doing good. Then he uttered the following gdtha :^
" Well-meaning fools will blunder o'er their work; By wrong devices they no good achieve. But mischief work, though well they mean to do. Like Kondanno, who ardent spirits spoilt."
By this gdtha the Bodhisat expounded the law.
There is a similar story in the Kathd-Sant- Sdgara. See Tawney*s translation.
- Jcitaha Booh, vol. i. No. 47, p. 251.
