The mice fancied that he had given up his sinful life, and there grew up within them confidence nourished by faith.

Now as they returned into their hole every day after making their rounds, the cat always seized on and devoured the mouse which came last. Seeing that the troop was constantly dwindling, the chief thought: “There must be [[345]]some cause for the fact that my mice are diminishing in number, and this cat is thriving apace.” So he began to observe the cat closely. And when he saw that the cat was fat and well covered with hair, he thought: “There is no doubt that this cat has killed the mice. Therefore must I bring the matter to the light of day.”

Now as he kept careful watch from a hiding-place, he saw how the cat ate up the mouse which went last. Then from afar off he pronounced this verse—

“As the uncle’s body waxes bigger, but my troop on the contrary becomes smaller, and as he who eats roots and berries will not become fat and well covered with hair, this is not a genuine penance, but one performed only for the sake of gain. Because the number of the mice diminished have you, O Agnija, thrived.” [[346]]

[1] Kah-gyur, iv. ff. 247, 248. [↑]

[[Contents]]

XLI.

THE GAZELLE AND THE HUNTER.[1]

In long-past times, when the Bodisat was in a state of indefinite merit-aggregation, he was the prince of a band of five hundred gazelles. Now a hunter had prepared a great many traps, nets, and springs, for the purpose of catching gazelles. As the gazelle prince carelessly enjoyed life, wandering about the forest with a troop of five hundred gazelles, he was caught in a net one day while heading the troop of gazelles. When the other gazelles saw him caught in the net, they all fled away, except one doe which remained beside the prince. Although the gazelle prince struggled hard, he was not able to tear the net. When the doe saw that, as she ran to and fro, she said, “As the hunter has prepared this net, exert thyself, O blessed one, exert thyself, O head of the gazelles.”