along, he met a boar that resembled the top of Sooty Mountain. Straightway he drew an arrow as far as his ear, and recited this verse:
The fitted shaft and bow-string's tension
He sees, and shows no apprehension;
The psychological conclusion
Is: Death has prompted this intrusion.
Then with a sharp arrow he shot the boar, who in turn angrily tore the hillman's stomach with a pointed fang that shone like the crescent moon, so that the man fell dead. The boar also, after killing the hunter, died in torment from the arrow-wound.
At this point a starving jackal reached the spot in his aimless wanderings. When he spied a boar and a hunter, both dead, he gleefully thought: "Fate is kind to me, providing this unlooked-for store of food. There is wisdom in the verse:
The fruit of actions good or bad
In each preceding state,
Without a further effort, comes
Upon us, brought by fate.
And again:
Each deed from every time and place
And age, as consequence
Brings good or evil in exact
And fitting recompense.
"Now I will eat in such a way as to have sustenance for many days. I will begin with the sinew wrapped round the bow-tip. I will hold it in my paws and eat very slowly. For the saying goes:
