Nor will I even come back again to your hermitage.
So saying, that dragon-king plunged into the water, went back to his own World of Dragons, and never came back again. And that ascetic, because he saw no more that dragon-king so fair to see, became more than ever lean, dried-up, pale, yellow as ever was yellow, his body strewn with veins.
Now the older ascetic, thinking, “I will find out how my younger brother is getting on,” went to visit him. Seeing that he was suffering more than ever from jaundice, he said: “How comes it that you are suffering more than ever from jaundice?” “Because I see no more that dragon so fair to see.” “This ascetic cannot get along without the dragon-king,” concluded the older ascetic, and recited the third stanza:
One should not beg or seek to get what is dear to another.
Odious does one become by asking overmuch.
When the Brahman asked the dragon for the jewel,
Never again did the dragon let himself be seen.
Having thus addressed him, the older ascetic comforted him, saying: “Henceforth grieve not;” and went back again to his own hermitage.
Said the Teacher: “Thus, monks, even to dragons, though the World of Dragons wherein they dwell is filled to overflowing with the Seven Jewels, begging is offensive. How much more so must it be to human beings!” And having completed this parable, he identified the personages in the Birth-story as follows: “At that time the younger brother was my favorite disciple, but the older brother was I myself.”