Thou hast dealt with us as a man deals with his dearest friend:
Such was the kindness, Sir, thou didst to us poor birds extend.

Yet a great void the circle of our kin has to deplore,
And many a bird is sorely grieved to see our face no more.

To drive away their sorrow thou, O king, hast set us free,
So humbly taking leave we fly our friends once more to see.

I'm very glad acquaintance with your Highness to have made,
Henceforth, I trust, my friends may have less cause to be afraid.

When he had thus spoken the king suffered them to depart. And the Great Being declared to the king the misery attending the five kinds of vice and the blessing that followed virtue, and exhorted him, saying, "Keep the moral law and rule your kingdom righteously, and win the hearts of your people with the four modes of conciliation ," and forthwith he set out for Cittakuta.

[353] The Master, to make the matter clear, said:

Thus to the lord of mortals spake the Dhatarattha king,
Then sought these geese their kith and kin with utmost speed of wing.

Seeing their chiefs all safe and sound returned from haunts of men,
The winged flock with noisy cries welcomed them back again.

Thus circling round their lord in whom they trust, these ruddy geese
Paid all due honour to their king, rejoiced at his release.

While thus escorting their king these geese asked him, saying, "How, sire, did you escape?" The Great Being told them of his escape by the help of Sumukha, and of the action of the Sakula king and the fowler. On hearing this the flock of geese in their joy sang their praises, saying, "Long live Sumukha, captain of our host, and the Sakula king and the fowler. May they be happy and free from sorrow."

The Master, to make the matter clear, repeated a final stanza:

Thus all whose hearts are full of love succeed in what they do,
E'en as these geese back to their friends once more in safety flew.

[354] The Master here ended his story, saying, "Brethren, not now only, but of old also, Ananda for my sake renounced his life," and he identified the Birth: "At that time Channa was the fowler, Sariputta the king, Ananda Sumukha, the followers of Buddha the ninety thousand geese, and I myself was the goose-king."

Footnotes

^175:1 Compare with this Hamsa-Jataka, vol. IV. No. 502, and Jataka-Mala, XXII. The Story of the Holy Swans.

^175:2 For the story of Devadatta, cf. Cullavagga, VII.

^175:3 In the corresponding passage in Cullavagga, VII.. 3. 8, pacchayayam (Skt pra-cchaya) is read instead of pacchachayaya.

^176:1 With bodhaneyya one may perhaps compare the of oi suzomenoi of the NT.

^176:2 raccha, Skt rathya, a carriage road or street. Jat. I. 346. 18.

^177:1 odissakametta. Cf. Jat. II. 61. 9, II. 146. 13.