twilight; but he travelled at midnight, and so he reached the forest without losing a single animal.
There they stayed four months; and when the crops were cut they came down from the mountain-side. Brownie, going back as he had come, brought the rest of the herd to destruction, and arrived alone. But Beauty, without losing even one of his herd, came up to his parent attended by all the five hundred of his deer.
And when the Bodisat saw his sons approaching, he held a consultation with the herd of deer, and put together this stanza, —
The righteous man hath profit, and the courteous in speech.
Look there at Beauty coming back with all his troop of kindred,
Then look at this poor Brownie, deprived of all he had![1]
When he had thus welcomed his son, the Bodisat lived to a good old age, and passed away according to his deeds.
Thus the Master gave them this lesson in virtue in illustration of what he had said, "Not only now, O mendicants! has Sāriputta come in glory, surrounded by the assembly of his brethren; in a former birth, also, he did the same. And not now only has Deva-datta been deprived of his
1 This verse is quoted by the Dhammapada Commentator, p. 146, where the Introductory Story is substantially the same, though differing in some details. The first line of the verse is curious, as there is nothing in the fable about righteousness or courtesy. It either belonged originally to some other tale, or is made purposely in discord with the facts to hint still more strongly at the absurdity of the worthy deer attempting to make human poetry.
- ↑ 1
