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witness." His father consented, so he took him and placed him at night in the capacious trunk of the tree, and returned home. And in the morning those two brothers went with the king's officers, and asked the tree, who took away those dínárs. And their father, who was hidden in the trunk of the tree, replied in a loud clear voice: " Dharmabuddhi took away the dínárs. When the king's officers heard this surprising utterance, they said; " Surely Dushțabuddhi must have hidden some one in the trunk." So they introduced smoke into the trunk of the tree, which fumigated the father of Dushțabuddhi so, that he fell out of the trunk on to the ground, and died. When the king's officers saw this, they understood the whole matter, and they compelled Dushțabuddhi to give up the dínárs to Dharmabuddhi. And so they cut off the hands and cut out the tongue of Dushțabuddhi, and banished him, and they honoured Dharmabuddhi as a man who deserved his name.*[1]
" So you see that a deed done with an unrighteous mind is sure to bring calamity, therefore one should do it with a righteous mind, as the crane did to the snake."
Story of the Crane, the Snake and the Mungoose.†[2]:— Once on a time a snake came and ate the nestlings of a certain crane, as fast as they were born; that grieved the crane. So, by the advice of a crab, he went and strewed pieces of fish from the dwelling of a mungoose as far as the hole of the snake, and the mungoose came out, and following up the pieces of fish, eating as it went on, was led to the hole of the snake, which it saw and entered, and killed him and his offspring.
" So by a device one can succeed; now hear another story."
Story of the mice that ate an iron balance.‡[3]:— Once on a time there was a merchant's son, who had spent all his father's wealth, and had only an iron balance left to him. Now the
- ↑ * i. e., " Virtuously-minded." His brother's name means— " Evil-minded."
- ↑ † Cp. Hitopadeśa, Johnson's translation, Fable, VIII, p. 60. Benfey appears not to be aware that this story is in Somadeva. It corresponds to the sixth in his 1st Book, Vol. II, p. 67. He thinks that Somadeva must have rejected it though it was in his copy. Benfey says it is of Buddhistic origin. It is found in the Arabic version (Wolff, p. 40, Knatchbull, p. 113) Symeon Seth, (Athenian edition, p. 16), John of Capua, c, 4, a., German translation, Ulm, 1483 D., IV. b., Spanish, XIII, 6, Firenzuola, 38, Doni, 57, Anvár-i-Suhaili, p. 116, Livre des Lumières, 91, Cabinet des Fées, XVII, 220. It is connected with the 20th of the 1st book in Benfey's translation, in fact it is another form of it. (Somadeva' s fable seems to be a blending of the two Panchatantra stories). Cp. also Phædrus, I, 28, Aristophanes, Aves, 652. (Benfey's Panchatantra. Vol. I. pp. 167—170.)
- ↑ ‡ This corresponds to the 21st of the first book in Benfey's translation. Vol. II, p. 120. Cp Arabic version (Wolff, I, 98, Knatchbull, 156.), Symeon Seth, 33,
