"Brahmin, whom even kings respect, say why did you not eat
The mess of rice, all cooked so nice, which men pour over meat.

"You knew not the gift's scope, but to the sage you past it on:
With all due deference I ask, what is it you have done?"

"I keep a wife and family, in houses too I dwell,
I rule the passions of a king, my own indulge as well.

"Unto a wise ascetic man long dwelling in the wood,
Old, practised in religious lore, I ought to give the food.

"Now the thin sage I ask, whose skin shows all the veins beneath,
With nails grown long, and shaggy hair, and dirty head and teeth:

"Have you no care for life, O lonely dweller in the wood?
How is this monk a better man to whom you gave the food?"

"Wild bulbs and radishes I dig, catmint and herbs seek I,
Wild rice, black mustard shake or pick, and spread them out to dry,

"Jujubes, herbs, honey, lotus-threads, myrobolan, scraps of meat,
This is my wealth, and these I take and make them fit to eat.

[372] "I cook, he cooks not: I have wealth, he nothing: I'm bound tight
To worldly things, but he is free: the food is his by right."

"I ask the Brother, sitting there, with cravings all subdued;
--This mess of rice, all cooked and nice, which men pour on their food,

"You took it, and with appetite eat it, and share with none;
With all due deference I ask, what is it you have done?"

"I cook not, nor I cause to cook, destroy nor have destroyed;
He knew that I possess no wealth, all sins I do avoid.

"The pot he carried in his right, and in his left the food,
Gave me the broth men pour on meat, the mess of rice so good;

"They have possessions, they have wealth, to give their duty is:
Who asks a giver to partake, he is a foe, y-wis."

[373] On hearing these words, the landowner in high delight repeated the last two stanzas:

"It was a happy chance for me to-day that brought the king:
I never knew before how gifts abundant fruit would bring.

"Kings in their kingdoms, brahmins in their work, are full of greed,
Sages in picking fruits and roots: Brethren from sin are freed."

The Pacceka Buddha having discoursed to him, then departed to his own place, and the ascetic likewise. And the king, after remaining a few days with him, went away to Benares.

[374] When the Master had ended this discourse, he said: "It is not the first time, Brethren, that food went to him who deserved it, for the same thing has happened before." Then he identified the Birth: "At that time, the landowner who did honour to the Law was the landowner in the story, Ananda was the king, Sariputta the chaplain, and I myself was the ascetic who lived in Himalaya."

Footnotes