No mighty deed is this, I feel,
To die, and for a father's weal
And mother's love to pass away
And win the bliss of heaven for aye.

On hearing this, the ogre said, "There is no creature, prince, that

is not afraid of death. Why are not you afraid?" And he told him the reason and recited two stanzas:

No evil deed of mine at all,
Open or secret, I recall:
Well weighed are birth and death by me,
As here, so 'tis in worlds to be.

Eat me to-day, O mighty one,
And do the deed that must be done.
I'll fall down dead from some high tree,
Then eat my flesh, as pleaseth thee.

[32] The ogre, on hearing his words, was terrified and said, "One cannot eat this man's flesh"; and, thinking by some stratagem to make him run away, he said:

If 'tis thy will to sacrifice
Thy life, young prince, to free thy sire,
Then go in haste is my advice
And gather sticks to light a fire.

Having so done, the youth returned to him.

The Master, to make the matter clear, spoke another stanza:

Then the brave prince did gather wood
And, rearing high a mighty pyre,
Cried, lighting it, "prepare thy food;
See! I have made a goodly fire."

The ogre, when he saw the prince had returned and made a fire, said, "This is a lion-hearted fellow. Death has no terrors for him. Up to this time I have never seen so fearless a man." And he sat there, astounded, from time to time looking at the youth. And he, seeing what the ogre was about, spoke this stanza:

Stand not and gaze in dumb amaze,
Take me and slay, and eat, I pray,
[33] While still alive, I will contrive
To make thee fain to eat to-day.

Then the ogre, hearing his words, spoke this stanza:

One so truthful, kindly, just,
Surely never may be eaten,
Or his head, who eats thee, must
Be to sevenfold pieces beaten.

The prince, on hearing this, said, "If you do not want to eat me, why did you bid me break sticks and make a fire?" and when the ogre replied, "It was to test you; for I thought you would run away," the prince said, "How now will you test me, seeing that, when in an animal form, I allowed

[paragraph continues] Sakka, king of heaven, to put my virtue to the test?" And with these words he spoke this stanza:--

To Indra once like some poor brahmin drest
The hare did offer its own flesh to eat;
Thenceforth its form was on the moon imprest;
That gracious orb as Yakkha now we greet.

[34] The ogre, on hearing this, let the prince go and said,