When Chattapani had thus explained his four attributes, the king made a sign to his attendants. And in an instant all the court, [196] priests and laymen and all, rose up, and cried out upon Kalaka--"Fie, bribe-swallowing thief and scoundrel! You couldn't get your bribes, and so you would murder the wise man by speaking ill of him!" They seized him by hand and foot, and bundled him out of the palace; and catching up whatever

they could get hold of, this a stone, and this a staff, they broke his head and did him to death: and dragging him by the feet they cast him upon a dunghill.

Thenceforward the king ruled in righteousness, until he passed away according to his deserts.

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This discourse ended, the Master identified the Birth:--"Devadatta was the Commander Kalaka, Sariputta was the artisan Chattapani, and I was Dhammaddhaja."

Footnotes

^131:1 Here we have the "Hero's Tasks" in a new form.

^132:1 This was supposed to happen when a good man was in straits. Some modern superstitions, turning upon the pity of a god for creatures in pain, may be seen in North Ind. N. and Q. iii. 285. As this: "Hot oil is poured into a dog's ear and the pain makes him yell. It is believed that his yells are heard by Raja Indra, who in pity stops the rain."

^134:1 Caturcanga-samannagatam; it is an odd coincidence that the Pythagoreans called the perfect man tetragunos, 'four-square' (see the poem of Simonides, in Plat. Prot. 339 B).

^135:1 The following is the commentary on these lines. The story is that of No. 120, where the first stanza of those which follow, is given. "This is the meaning. In former days, I was a king of Benares like this, and for a woman's sake I imprisoned a chaplain.

The free are bound, when folly has her say;
When wisdom speaks, the bond go free away.

Just as in the Birth now spoken of, this Chattapani became king. The queen intrigued with sixty-four of the slaves. She tempted the Bodhisatta, and when he would not consent she tried to ruin him by speaking calumny of him; then the king threw him into prison. The Bodhisatta was brought before him bound, and explained the real state of the case. Then he was set free himself; and then he got the king to release all those slaves who had been imprisoned, and advised him to forgive both the queen and them. All the rest is to be understood exactly as explained above. It was in reference to this he said

"A chaplain once in bonds I threw--
Which thing a woman made me do:
He built me up in holy lore;
Since when I never envied more."