XIX.
THE PUNISHMENT OF AVARICE.[1]
In long past times a hunter wounded an elephant with a poisoned arrow. Perceiving that he had hit it, he followed after the arrow and killed the elephant. Five hundred robbers who had plundered a hill-town were led by an evil star to that spot, where they perceived the elephant. As it was just then a time of hunger with them, they said, “Now that we have found this meat, let two hundred and fifty of us cut the flesh off the elephant and roast it, while two hundred and fifty go to fetch water.”
Then those among them who had cut the flesh off the elephant and cooked it, said among themselves, “Honoured sirs, now that we have accomplished such a task and collected so much stolen property, wherefore should we give away part of it to the others? Let us eat as much of the meat as we please, and then poison the rest. The others will eat the poisoned meat and die, and then the stolen goods will be ours.”
So after they had eaten their fill of the meat, they poisoned what remained over. Those who had gone to fetch water, likewise, when they had drunk as much water as they wanted, poisoned what was left. So when they came back, and those who had eaten the flesh drank the water, and those who had drunk the water ate the flesh, they all of them died.
Now there came to that spot a jackal, fettered by the ties [[287]]of time, and it saw all those dead bodies. With a joy that sprang from greediness it thought, “As an extremely large amount of booty has accrued to me, I will take each part of it in its turn.” So it seized the bow with its jaws, and began to gnaw at the knots of the bowstring. The string snapped, and the end of the bow struck the jackal in the roof of the mouth so hard, that it died. The jackal uttered this śloka—
“It is good to accumulate, but not to accumulate immoderately. See how the jackal, infatuated by greed after the accumulated, was killed by the bow.” [[288]]
[1] Kah-gyur iii. f. 103. The end of this may be compared with Panchatantra, ii. 3. The beginning is a well-known theme. See Liebrecht on “Die vergifteten Gefährten” in Orient und Occident, i. 656.—S. [↑]