Lo at thy mercy now they lie, in battle smitten sore,
At thy good pleasure slay them all or set them free once more."

[311] The king said:

These foes are rather thine than mine. They all belong to thee,
Thou only art our sovereign lord, to slay or to set free.

Being thus spoken to, the Great Being thought, "What can I do with these men when once dead? Let not their coming here be without good result. Pabhavati has seven younger sisters, daughters of king Madda. I will bestow them in marriage on these seven princes," and he repeated this stanza:

These daughters seven, like heavenly nymphs, are very fair to see,
Give them, one each, to these seven kings, thy sons-in-law to be.

Then the king said:

O'er us and them thou art supreme, thy purpose to fulfil,
Give them--thou art our sovereign lord--according to thy will.

So he had them all beautifully attired and gave them in marriage, one to each king.

The Master, to make the matter clear, spoke five stanzas:

So Kusa of the lion-voice king Madda's daughters gave,
One maid to each of princes seven, fair maids to warriors brave.

Delighted with the boon received from lordly Kusa's hand,
These princes seven returned again each one to his own land,

Taking his magic jewel bright, back to Kusavati,
King Kusa, mighty hero, brought the fair Pabhavati.

Riding together in one car, home came the royal pair,
Neither outshone the other, for they both alike were fair.

Mother came forth to meet her son. Husband henceforth and wife
In realms of peace and plenty dwelt and led a happy life.

[312] The Master, ending his lesson, revealed the Truths and identified the Birth:--At the end of the Truths the backsliding Brother was established in the fruition of the First Path:--"At that time the father and mother were members of the royal household, the younger brother was Ananda, the humpback was Khujjuttara, Pabhavati was the mother of Rahula, the retinue were Buddha's followers, king Kusa was I myself."

Footnotes

^141:1 The story of Kusa may be linked with the European variants of the tale of "Beauty and the Beast." See Tibetan Tales, Introduction, p. xxxvii. and 21-28, and Kusa Jatakaya, a Buddhistic legend, rendered from the Sinhalese into English verse by Thomas Steele.

^141:2 A former name for Kusinara.