Now that foolish caravan-leader, out of his own foolishness, took the advice of the ogre, broke the chatties to pieces, threw away all of the water, leaving not so much as a dribble, and caused the carts to move forward. Ahead there was not the slightest particle of water. For lack of water to drink the men grew weary. They traveled until sundown, and then unharnessed the carts, drew them up in a contracted circle, and tied the oxen to the wheels. There was neither water for the oxen nor gruel and boiled rice for the men. The weakened men lay down here and there and went to sleep. At midnight the ogres approached from the city of ogres, slew both oxen and men, every one, devoured their flesh, leaving only the bare bones, and having so done, departed. Thus, by reason of a single foolish caravan-leader, they all met destruction. The bones of their hands and all their other bones lay scattered about in the four directions and the four intermediate directions; five hundred carts stood as full as ever.
As for the Future Buddha, he waited for a month and a half from the day when the foolish caravan-leader set out, and then set out from the city with five hundred carts. In due course he reached the mouth of the wilderness. There he had the water-chatties filled, putting in an abundant supply of water. Then, sending a drum around the camp, he assembled his men and spoke as follows: “Without first obtaining my permission, you must not use so much as a dribble of water. In the wilderness there are poison-trees: any leaf or flower or fruit which you have not previously eaten, you must not eat without first obtaining my permission.” Having thus admonished his men, he struck into the wilderness with his five hundred carts.
When he reached the middle of the wilderness, that ogre showed himself in the path of the Future Buddha in precisely the same way as before. When the Future Buddha saw him, he knew: “In this wilderness is no water; that is what is called a waterless wilderness. Moreover this fellow is fearless, red-eyed, casts no shadow. Without a doubt this fellow caused the foolish caravan-leader who went first to throw away all his water, and having thus brought weariness upon him and his company, devoured them. But, unless I am mistaken, he does not know how wise and resourceful I am.”
Accordingly the Future Buddha said to the ogre: “You go your way. We are traders. Unless we see water farther on, we shall not throw away the water we have brought. But wherever we do see water, there we shall throw away the water we have brought, and having thus lightened our carts, shall continue our journey.” The ogre went a little way, and when he was out of sight, went back again to his own city of ogres.
Now when the ogre had gone, the men asked the Future Buddha: “Noble sir, these men said: ‘Do you see that dark green streak of woods? Beyond that point it rains all the time.’ And the men who said it approached garlanded with garlands of water-lilies both blue and white, carrying clusters of lotus-flowers both red and white, chewing the fibrous stalks of water-lilies, heads wet, garments wet, with drops of water streaming from them. Let us throw away the water and go quickly with lightened carts.”
The Future Buddha, hearing their words, caused the carts to halt, assembled all of his men, and asked: “Has any one of you heard that there is either a lake or a pool in this wilderness?” “Noble sir, we have not so heard. This is what is called a waterless wilderness.” “Just now some men said: ‘Beyond that dark green streak of woods it is raining.’ Now how far does a rain-wind blow?” “A matter of a league, noble sir.” “But has a rain-wind touched the body of even a single one of you?” “It has not, noble sir.” “How far off is a cloud-head visible?” “A matter of a league, noble sir.” “But has any one of you seen even a single cloud-head?” “We have not, noble sir.” “How far off is lightning visible?” “Four or five leagues, noble sir.” “But has any one of you seen a flash of lightning?” “We have not, noble sir.” “How far off can the sound of a cloud be heard?” “A matter of one or two leagues, noble sir.” “But has any one of you heard the sound of a cloud?” “We have not, noble sir.”
“Those are not human beings; those are ogres. They must have come with the thought in their minds: ‘We will make these men throw away their water, weaken them, and devour them.’ The foolish caravan-leader who went first was not resourceful. Undoubtedly he must have thrown away the water at their behest, grown weary, and been devoured; the five hundred carts must stand as full as ever. To-day we shall see them. Do not throw away even so much as a dribble of water, but drive ahead as fast as ever you can.” With these words he bade them drive forward.
Proceeding, he saw the five hundred carts as full as ever, and the bones of the men’s hands and all their other bones scattered in all directions. He had the carts unharnessed and a stockade built by drawing them into a contracted circle. He had both men and oxen given their supper betimes, and the oxen lie down in the centre of the circle formed by the men. He himself, assisted by the leaders of the force, kept watch during the three watches of the night, sword in hand, and allowed the dawn to rise upon him standing there.
On the following day, very early in the morning, he had his men do all their chores, feed the oxen, discard the weak carts, substitute strong ones, throw away goods of little value, substitute those of great value. And going to the place where he would be, he sold his goods for twice or thrice the price, and together with his entire company went back again to his own city.
When the Teacher had related this parable, he said: “Thus, householder, in times past those who grasped with the grasp of speculation came to a sorry end, but those who grasped Absolute Truth escaped from the hands of demons, went in safety to the place where they would be, and went back again to their own place.” And having thus joined the two parts of this Parable of Absolute Truth, he, the Supremely Enlightened, uttered the following stanza: