"When such an evil-minded man beholds or food or gain,
He works all ill, and go he will, but first will be thy bane."

[58] These seven stanzas were repeated by the King of the Fowls. Then were the four stanzas following recited by the King of the Faith, words inspired by a Buddha's insight:

"In friendly show full many a foe follows, his aid to give;
As the Fowl left the Falcon, so 'twere best bad men to leave.

"Who is not quick to recognise the meaning of events,
Under his foes' control he goes, and afterward repents.

"Whoso the meaning of events is quick to recognise,
As from the Falcon's toils the Fowl, so from his foes he flies.

"From such inevitable and treacherous snare,
Deadly, set deep mid many a forest tree,
As from the Falcon far the Fowl did flee,
The man of seeing eye afar should fare."

And he again, after reciting these stanzas, called the Falcon, and reproached him, saying, "If you continue to live in this place, I shall know what to do." The Falcon flew away thence and went to another place.

[59] The Master, having ended this. discourse, said, "Brethren, long ago as now Devadatta tried to compass my destruction," and then he identified the Birth: "At that time, Devadatta was the Falcon, and I was myself the Fowl."

Footnotes

^35:1 These four lines occur in the Life of Buddha which is prefixt to the Jataka, vol. i. p. 31 (Pali), not in the present translation (Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories, p. 34). Compare also Dhammapada, p. 126; Theragatha, p. 35.

^36:1 A city on the Ganges.