A wife may youthful be and good and fair,
Own troops of friends, and children's love may share:
Not e'en to her entrust thy hidden thought,
Or of her treachery thou must beware.

[81] Then follow these stanzas:

His secret no man should disclose, but guard like treasure-trove:
Disclosure of a secret thing no wise man would approve.

Wise men to woman or a foe their secrets ne'er betray;
Trust not the slaves of appetite; creatures of impulse they.

Whoso reveals his secret thought to one not overwise,
Fears the betrayal of his trust and at his mercy lies.

All such as know the secret thing that thou shouldst rather hide,
Threaten thy peace of mind; to none that secret thing confide.

By day to thine own self alone the secret dare to name,
But venture not at dead of night that secret to proclaim;

For close at hand, be sure, there stand men ready to betray
The slightest word they may have heard: so trust them not, I pray.

These five stanzas will appear in the Problem of the Five Sages in the Ummagga Birth.

Then follow these stanzas:

As some huge city fenced on every side
With moat, of iron wrought, has long defied
[82] All entrance of a foe to Fairy Land,
So e'en are they that do their counsels hide.

Who by rash speech to secrets give no clue,
But ever steadfast to themselves are true,
From them all enemies do keep aloof,
As men flee far when deadly snakes pursue.

When the Truth had been thus proclaimed by the garuda, Pandaraka said:

A tonsured, nude ascetic left his home
And seeking alms did through the country roam:
To him my secret I alas! did tell,
And straight from happiness and virtue fell.

What line of conduct should a priest pursue,
What vows take on him, and what faults eschew?
How free himself from his besetting sin,
And at the last a heavenly mansion win?

[83] The garuda said:

By patience, self-restraint, long-suffering,
By calumny and ire abandoning,
Thus may a priest get rid of every sin,
And at the last a heavenly mansion win.

Pandaraka, on hearing the garuda-king thus declare the Truth, begged for his life and repeated this stanza:

As mother gazing on her baby boy
Is thrilled in every limb with holy joy,
So upon me, O king of birds, bestow
That pity mothers to their children show.

Then the garuda in granting him his life repeated another stanza:

O snake, to-day from death I set thee free;
Of kinds of children there are only three,
[84] Pupil, adopted child and true-born son:
Of these rejoice that thou art surely one.

So saying, he alighted from the air and placed the snake upon the ground.

The Master, to make the matter clear, repeated two stanzas: