But when to that blood-stained lake I came,
The crimson flood appeared one mass of flame.

[72] Each liquid drop from it that did bedew
My body, straight into a pustule grew,
Like a cleft vilva-fruit, in size and hue.

The sores discharging yield a loathsome smell,
And whereso'er I fain would gladly dwell
In town and country-side, all fly pell mell.

Scattered by odours foul, the while they ply
Their sticks and stones, and "Come not thou too nigh
To us, poor wretch,' all men and women cry.

Such is the pain for seven long years I bear;
According to his deeds each man doth fare.

May good be with you all that here I see:
Betray ye not your friends. How vile is he
That sins against a friend with treachery.

All who on earth to friends have proved untrue,
As lepers here their sin must ever rue,
And when the body fails, in Hell are born anew.

[74] And while the man was speaking with the king, even as he spoke, the earth opened its mouth, and at that very moment the man disappeared and was reborn in Hell. The king, when the man was swallowed up in the earth, came forth from the park and entered the city.

The Master here ending his lesson said, "Not only now, Brethren, but formerly too, Devadatta flung a stone at me," and he identified the Birth: "At that time the treacherous friend was Devadatta, I myself was the monkey-king."

Footnotes

^38:1 Bauhinia Variegata.

^41:1 The bamboo dies off after bearing fruit.