Page:Buddhist Birth Stories, or, Jātaka Tales.djvu/340

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No. 17.

MALUTA JĀTAKA.

The Wind.

"Whenever the wind blows," etc. — This the Master told when at Jetavana, about two Buddhist monks. They, we are told, were living a forest life in the country of Kosala; and one was called Dark and the other called Light. Now one day Light asked Dark, "Brother! at what time does the cold, as some people call it, come on?"

"In the dark half of the month!" said he.

But one day Dark asked Light, "Brother Light! at what time does the so-called cold come on?"

"In the light half of the month!" said he.

And neither of the two being able to solve the knotty point, they went to the Master, and after paying him reverence, asked him, "At what time, Sir, is the cold?"

When the Master had heard their story, he said, "Formerly also, O mendicants! I solved this question for you; but the confusion arising from change of birth has driven it out of your minds." And he told a tale.


Once upon a time two friends, a lion and a tiger, were living in a certain cave at the foot of a hill. At that time the Bodisat, who had devoted himself to the reli-