by the prayers of womenfolk ?" On being thus reproached the cuckoo Punnamukha [422] turned back. Then surely in no long time afterwards severe sickness attacked Punnamukha, and extreme suffering from a bloody flux set in, bringing him nigh unto death. Then this thought occurred to the birds in attendance upon the cuckoo Punnamukha: "This cuckoo is ill; peradventure he may be raised up from his sickness." So leaving him quite alone they drew nigh to where the bird Kunala was. Kunala spied these birds coming from afar, and on seeing them thus addressed them, "Where, wretches, is your lord?" Friend Kunala, they said, "Punnamukha is sick: perhaps he may be raised up from his sickness." When they had so spoken, the bird Kunala cursed them thus: "Perish, ye wretches, yea, perish utterly, ye thievish, knavish, heedless, flighty creatures, ungrateful for kindness done to you, going like the wind whithersoever ye list." So saying, he drew nigh to where the cuckoo Punnamukha was and thus addressed him: "Ho! friend Punnamukha." "Ho! friend Kunala," he replied. Then the bird Kunala seized the cuckoo Punnamukha with his wings and beak and raising him up gave him all manner of medicines to drink. So the sickness of the cuckoo was relieved. [423] And when Punnamukha was well, the birds returned and Kunala for a few days gave Punnamukha wild fruits to eat, and when he had recovered his strength, he said, "Now friend, you are well again; continue to dwell with your attendant birds, and I will return to my own place of abode." Then Punnamukha said to him, "They left me when I was extremely ill and flew away. I have no need of these rogues." On hearing this the Great Being said, "Well then, friend, I will tell you of the wickedness of womenfolk," and he took Punnamukha and brought him to the Red Valley on a slope of the Himalayas and sat down on a rock of red arsenic at the foot of a sal tree, seven leagues in extent, while Punnamukha with his following sat on one side. Throughout all the Himalayas went a heavenly proclamation, "To-day Kunala, king of birds, seated on a rock of red arsenic in the Himalayas, with all the charm of a Buddha will preach the Law: hearken to him." [424] By proclaiming it, one to another, the gods of the six Kamavacara worlds heard of it and for the most part assembled together: many deities too in the forest, serpents, garudas, and vultures proclaimed the fact. At that time Ananda, king of the vultures, with a following of ten thousand vultures dwelt upon Vulture Peak. And on hearing the commotion he thought, "I will listen to the preaching of the Law," and came with his followers and sat apart. Narada too the ascetic with the five Supernatural Faculties, dwelling in the Himalaya region, with his following of ten thousand ascetics, on hearing this heavenly proclamation, thought, "My friend Kunala, they