FOLK-TALES OF INDIA. 255
and played his tricks in his presence just as he had done in theirs. The Bodhisat, snapping his fingers at him (to frighten him away), gave him good advice, saying, "Since you (constantly) live in the presence of highly cultivated recluses you ought surely to be well conducted, very temperate in thought, word, and deed, and much given to meditation." From that time forth the monkey became well behaved and virtuous. Some time after this the Bodhisat went else-where.
When the hermits had provided themselves with salt, vinegar, &c. they returned to their former quarters. The monkey however did not play off his tricks before them as on former occasions. "Formerly," said the hermits, "you used to exhibit your tricks in our presence, now you don't; how's that?" Making this inquiry they uttered the following gâtha: —
"Not long ago, before us pious folks,
Thou did'st full well thy funny tricks display.
Now come, sir, come and play thy monkey games.
Enjoy we not this virtuous mien of thine."
On hearing this the monkey replied in the following gâtha: —
"The words of highest wisdom have I heard
From sage renowned, Komâyaputta called;
Pray deem me not the same as I ere was,
For now I live a meditative life."
After hearing this the hermits spake the following gâtha: —
"If on a rock a sower seed should cast.
Though rain should fall thereon it would not grow.
The words of highest wisdom thou hast heard,
But far from jhâna's mystic state art thou."
The Udumbara Jâtaka.[1]
How the big Monkey tricked the little one.
In days long since past, when Brahmadatta reigned at Benares, the Bodhisat was reborn in the forest as a tree-sprite. There, during the wet season, it rained for seven weeks. At that time a little red-faced
monkey took up its abode in a rock-cave sheltered from the rain; and
- ↑ Jâtaka Book, vol. ii. No. 298, p. 445.
