The Poor Man and the minister

The day came for the image from the temple to be drawn round the holy town in its chariot. The Queen said to the King, Let us go and attend the festival'. Only one man out of the household did not join in the pilgrimage. His work was to collect stalks of spear-grass to make brooms for the King's house. The chief of the servants said in pity to him. "You may come with us." He bowed his head, saying It cannot be. The man dwelt by the road along which the King's followers had to pass. And when the Minister's elephant reached the spot, he called to him and said, "Come with us and see the God ride in his chariot dare not seek god after the King's fashion' 'I said the man. How should you ever have such luck again as to see the God in his chariot?" asked the Minister. when God himself comes to my door, answered the man.

The Minister laughed loud and said, 'Fool! God comes to my door Yet a King must travel to see him who except God visits the poor? said the man.

Tagore

The Saint and the King

"Sire" announced the servant to the King, "the saira Narottam has never deigned to enter your royal temple He is singing God's praise under the trees by the road. The temple is empty of worshippers. They flock round him like bees round the white lotus, leaving the golden jar of honey unheeded. The King, vexed at heart, went to the spot where Narottam sat on the grass. He asked him, "Father, why leave my temple of the golden dome and sit on the dust outside to preach God's love?" "Because God is not there in your temple said Narottam. The King frowned and said, "Do you know, twenty millions of gold went to the making of that marvel of art, and it was consecrated to God with costly rites?"

 "Yes, I know it," answered Narottam, "It was in that year when thousands of your people whose houses had been burned stood vainly asking for help at your door. And God said, "The poor creature who can give no shelter to his brothers would build my house "And took his place with the Shelterless under the trees by the road. And that golden bubble is empty of all but not vapour of pride." The King cried in anger, "leave my land." Calmly -said the saint, "Yes, banish me where you have banished my God."

Tagore

The Monkey King

A great tribe of monkeys once lived deep in
the high Himalaya mountains. Every night they used
to go to a great mango tree that grew beside a river
and eat its juicy fruit.
One night, however,they saw something that
made them stop eating at once and gaze in terror
Below,on the ground ,were dozen of soldier, and
arrows up into the branches of the great mango tree!
"Help!" the monkey cried.
"They'l1 kill us all!
"They won't if we keep calm," replied then- king
who was a wise and cool-headed monkey. There is
a way to escape, wait here...

Going to the top of tree, the monkey made a
great leap right a cross to the other side of the river
There he found a long creeper. Gripping one end of
this between his teeth, he then leapt back into the
mango tree.

Now the king planned to use this creeper to
make a bridge; but unfortunately it was just a little
too short. After thinking for a movement however, he
saw that he could use his own body to fill the final
gap. When all was ready, he called the other monkey.
"Now step on to my back and climb across the creeper
to safety,' he told them.

The monkeys did as he said and the all go away all expect one.
His name was dev he had hate the monkey king a long time.
Now he saw his chance to hurt him. running devadatta jumped with all his weight up the monkey king's back. Snap! The monkey kings back broke but he still did not let go of the cre not until evil devadatta had also made his escape The king of benares was watching all this from below, he ordered his soldiers to lay down their weapons and bring the poor monkey king down gently from the top the tree. "Although you are only a you taught me today how a real king should be have, the king benares told the monkey king. You put the safety of your subjects before your own welfare. That was truly noble. From now on I shall try to live up to your example." The monkey king smiled. Then his eyes closed. He was dead.

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The Obtuse Monkeys

Once upon a time a tribe of monkeys lived
happily in the pleasure-garden of the king of Banaras
The king's gardener looked upon them as his friends
and they, in their turn, were devoted to him.
Now one day a great festival was to take place
in the city. The festive drum sounded early in the
morning, and the townsfolk turned out in thousands
to keep holiday. The king's gardener felt a craving
to join the festivites.

He thought to himself: "Why should I not have a holiday once hi a while? After
all, there is very little to do hi the park. Only a few
young saplings have to be watered. Surely my friends
the monkeys, can do that much for me
So he went to the leader of the monkeys and
said, "My friend, you know that this park has to
be well looked after. His Majesty and/ his subjects
enjoy many benefits from it. Today there is holiday
making in the city and I desire to take the day off
At the same time I cannot neglect the park. As you
know, young plants have got to be watered everyday.
Couldn't you do the job for me, just for today? The
leader of the monkeys said 'Oh yes, brother. We shall
look after your plants.

Go and make merry to your heart's content
Thank you,' said the gardener, "but see that you
do not let me down.' and them, after supplying the
monkeyswith waterskins and wooden buckets, he
went off to the city The monkeys immediately started their work of
watering the young plants. Their leader instructed
them in this way: "Friends, remember that we have
only a limited amount of water.

We must not waste it, because if it is finished before the work is done
we shall find it difficult to their requirements. So
it would be better if you pull out each young plant
and examine the size of its roots. Then you can give
plenty of water to those which have big and long
roots. On the contrary, small quantity of water will
do for plants with tiny roots.'
"You are quite right, Sir," said the other monkeys,
and did as their leader told them. They pulled out
all the young plants in the garden and watered them
according to the size of then- roots.
Thus, with every desire to do good, the faithful
monkeys did great harm to their friend, gardener, to
the king, and to all those who enjoyed the benefits
of the pleasure garden.

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Sama The Devoted Son

on opposite banks of river dividing the kingdom of Benares lay two villages. Their unter c fast friends throughout the years, betrothed their infant children to each other shortly after their birth Now, these two were not like other children; they were born with skins of golden hue. And although they were surrounded by hunters, they refused to ham any living creature. In vain each begged his parents to forgot the nuptails. Against their will they were married but secretly determined to live as brother and sister. Dukula, as the boy was called, and Parika, the girl, unwilling to hunt or partake of the comforts of their parents' dwelling, were allowed to go into the forest and live in a hermitage where they led lives of meditation and purity. Although Sakka helped them 3si with their small needs, he was uneasy, for he knew that their past had not yet been washed clean. Sakka foresaw that a grave misfortune was to strike them. He tried to convince them that they would have to bear a son in order to be assured of someone to care for them. "Never," they said, "Impossible." for this was not the way of asceticism.

At last Sakka persuaded them that a pure conception take place i at the proper time, Dukula placed one finger on his wife's naval. So it was that the Bodhisatta was reborn into the world of men. Budhisatta was named Suv or Sama. When sama was sixteen, as predicted, a misfortune befell his parents. As they were making their way home after a day of gathering fruits it suddenly began to rain. Taking shelter at the roots of a tree, they unwittingly stood on an anthill under which a poisonous snake resided As they huddled there, drops of their sweat fell onto the snake and he was angered. So he puffed out his deadly breath at them and blinded them instantly. From this time onward their son was their sole support. Sama tied ropes and bamboo poles in all directions for them to follow. He swept their dwelling clean of leaves and insects, collected their food, fed them succulent fruits. One evening, while Sama was fetching the evening's water in his small round pot, which one of the deer that accompanied him used to carry for him, the king of Benares wandered into the forest, While hunting for venison, he had chanced upon a glade near the pond where Sama stood.

The king shot a poisoned arrow into Sana's side. The de fled in terror. And sama slowly and gravely sank to the sand. Blood poured from his lips as he spoke aloud, asking who it could be who desired his death and what could be gained by such an act. King Piliyakka was stuck by the absence of blame or anger in Sama's words. Still the boy did not reprimand him. Instead, he grieved aloud for his parents. Who would feed them now? Who would bring them water each days? Who would bathe them? 30 The king was struck with shame. Where upon he took up the water pot and promised sama to care for his parents as if they were his own, Same them Goon lost consciousness. Piliyakka, thinking he was dead waild loudly and paid homage to Sama's body. In the meantime a daughter of the gods who had been Sanaa's mother in his seventh incarnation before this one sensed that something had be fallen her former son..

Convinced that Sama as wall as his parents would die if she did not intercede, she spoke G8mic gout to the king, "O king," You have done a grievous thing, Go and nurse the blind parents and your bad deed shall be forgotten and you will attain heaven.
Inspired by goddess's words. Piliyakka se the out for the hermitage.

There he comfessed his crime to Sanaa's parents. They were stricken with so and grief.
They asked merely that the king lead them to their son's body. The king reluctantly complied On reaching their son, the two ascetics kenlt down and wept All past evils having been washed away by their tears, they were able to bring their son back to life. As his mothers solemn words, he turned to herself and profoundly asserted the virtue of Sama. At last Sama stirred, then rose, fully recovered from his injury. At that very moment, dawn broke over the forest and Sama's mother and father could see with their own eyes Sama's restoration.

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The King's Elephant

In the dead of night, a gang of thieves crept into the King of Benare's elephant-house to plot their next job. Their leader had already carried out more than a hundred violent crimes. Now he described to his friends his plan for breaking into the royal treasury to steal all the King's jewels.

what happens if someone comes along while "In doing the job?" the our line of work you've got to thief, anyone who get in be prep Now, the your way, the leader repl thought King's favourite elephant heard all this and him the that the criminals had come there to t his right way behave. So, next morning when up keeper came to feed him, he picked the poor man in his mighty trunk and threw him to the floor near And he attacked anyone else who tried to get him eventually, the others keepers had toss ropes around him and tie him up to stop him doing any more my chief. When the king was heard about this, he was very upset. He was very fond of the elephant, which er up to that time had always been well behaved. "It really would break my heart to have to put him down, he told his, ministers, shaking his head 'I can't understand what's got into him. 306 The king then sent his wisest minister to the elephant-house to see whether he could find out anything. The minister he could find out anything The minster looked around carefully and, in the straw youcBSeeSu that was scattered on the floor, he found something that the thieves had left behind. Aha!" he exclaimed. "Very useful clues!' And he hurried back to the palace. What seems to have happened.

Your Majesty, he told the king, is that the elephant was led astray listening to criminals who were meeting in the elephant house 'What can we do then to set matters right? the king asked. "I suggest we put good men in the elephant's stall and have them sing the parises of gentleness, patience, kindness and generosity," the minister replied. That may lead him back into decent ways. "Let it be done then," commanded the king So a group of honest men sat in the elephant's stall about talking about good things for several weeks. The elephant pinned back his great ears and listened carefully. He now took his lesson from what they they had to say and for the rest of his life he was the nicest, kindest, most gentle animal you could hope to meet anywhere.

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The old woman and Her Half-pomegranate

The Buddha was once in Raja Griha where he had allotted a day for the collection of alms. Now sat under a tree and began to receive gifts. King Bimbasara had brought with him deeds of land, houses and other valuable properties. There followed Prince Ajata Shatru with rich and valuable gifts. Finally, came grandness and wealthy merchants Buddha accepted their gifts by extending his right hand in token of them. Suddenly there came into the procession an old, shrivelled woman and she said to him sadly: "Lord, I heard about your appeal for charity only this morning. As you see, I am poor and old and I have nothing to give except this pomegranate. I had eaten half of it when I heard of your appeal. Lord, I have nothing to give but this half pomegranate, so I brought it with me. Will you accept this?" She looked appealingly at the Buddha. To the astonishment of all the powerful! and wealthy persons, the Buddha at once came down and accepted her gift with both hands and in deep gratitude. "O. blessed one," said Bimbasara, why do you so coldly acknowledge our gifts by merely extending your hand when we gave so much? And, why did

you come down from your dais to acknowledge this woman's gift when she gave merely half a piece of fruit? "Because, King," the Buddha replied evenly. "she gave all that she had. The rest of you gave only a part of what you had."