"How didst thou win thy liberty when life was nearly done:
How did the hunter set thee free from treacherous trap, my son?"

In answer to which the Bodhisatta repeated three stanzas:

"Cittaka won me liberty with words that charmed the ear,
That touched the heart, that pierced the heart, words uttered sweet and clear.

"Sutana won me liberty with words that charmed the ear,
That touched the heart, that pierced the heart, words uttered sweet and clear.

[420] "The hunter gave me liberty, these charming words to hear,
That touched the heart, that pierced the heart, words uttered sweet and clear."

His parents expressed their gratitude, saying:

"He with his wife and family, O happy may they be,
As we are happy to behold Rohanta now set free!"

Now the huntsman came out of the wood, and went to the king; then saluting him stood on one side. The king when he saw him said:

"Come tell me, hunter: dost thou say, "See the deer's hide I bring":
Or hast thou no deer's hide to show because of any thing?"

The hunter replied:

"Into my hands the creature came, into my privy snare,
And was fast caught: but others, free, attended on him there.

"Then pity made my flesh to creep, a pity strange and new.
If I should slay this deer (thought I) then I shall perish too."

"What were these deer, O hunter, what their nature and their ways,
What colour theirs, what quality, to merit such high praise?"

The king put this question several times over, as one much astonished. The hunter replied in this stanza:

[421] "With silvery horns and graceful shape, with hide and fell most bright,
Red slot, and shining brilliant eyes all lovely to the sight."

As he repeated this stanza, the huntsman placed in the king's hand those golden hairs of the Great Being, and in another verse summed up the description of the character of these deer:

"Such is their nature and their ways, my lord, and such these deer:
They used to find their parents food: I could not fetch them here."

In these words he described the qualities of the Great Being, and of the stag Citta, and of Sutana the doe; adding this, "The royal stag, O king, showed me his hairs, commanding me to take his place, and to declare the Law before the queen in ten stanzas of a holy life ."[422] Then sitting upon a golden throne, he declared the Law in those stanzas.

[paragraph continues] The queen's craving was satisfied. The king was pleased, and repeated these stanzas, as he rewarded the huntsman with great honour

"A jewelled earring give I thee, a hundred drachms of gold,
A lovely throne like flower of flax, with cushions laid fourfold ,