"This sorry draught, the goodness all strained out ,
Drives all these asses in a drunken rout:
The thorobreds, that drank the potent juice,
Stand silent, nor skip capering about."

And the Bodhisatta explained the matter in the second stanza:--

"The low-born churl, though he but taste and try,
Is frolicsome and drunken by and by:
He that is gentle keeps a steady brain
Even if he drain most potent liquor dry."

When the king had listened to the Bodhisatta's answer, he had the donkeys driven out of his courtyard. Then, abiding by the Bodhisatta's

advice, he alms and did good until he passed away to fare according to his deserts.

_____________________________

When this discourse was ended, the Master identified the Birth as follows:--"At that time these pages were the five hundred asses, these lay brethren were the five hundred thorobreds, Ananda was the king, and the wise courtier was I myself."

Footnotes

^65:1 The introductory story is varied in Dhammapada, Comm. p. 274.

^65:2 The Mallians were a tribe of professional wrestlers.

^66:1 Elephants, horse, chariots, infantry.

^66:2 Dhammapada, p. 275.

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