After the bed had been moved away the projecting mass of the hill fell down. A great crowd came running together, full of anxiety lest the householder should have been crushed. But he exclaimed, “Honoured sirs, here am I; be not afraid, but look after my bed.” “It has been removed,” was the reply. “Who did that?” he asked. “Viśākhā,” they replied. He said, “The Champā maiden is wise.”
Later on, when they had taken up their quarters in an old park, and Mṛgadhara’s couch had been prepared in an empty temple, Viśākhā saw it and asked whose it was. “That is the master’s couch,” was the reply. “Move it away,” she said. “Why so?” “Because,” she replied, “if the temple were to fall down he would be crushed to death, and trouble would come upon me.”
After the couch had been removed the temple fell down, and people came running up, and so forth as before.
By and by they reached Śrāvastī, and after they had recovered from the fatigues of the journey and presented ornaments to friends, relatives, and connections, Viśākhā began to attend to the domestic affairs of the family. As Mṛgadhara’s daughters-in-law took it in turns to look after the food for the household, Viśākhā received instructions to provide it on the seventh day. As the time drew near for her turn to come, she daily rolled into pellets and desiccated what remained over of the perfumes used by her husband and his parents. Of the powder which she thus each day obtained she took some out of the box; the rest she mixed with oil and divided it into equal [[117]]portions. When her turn came next day, she took care that spirituous liquors were prepared, and she renewed the freshness of her own and her husband’s faded garlands. When the morning came, she bestowed upon the labourers oranges, perfumes, flowers, and meat and drink. They were greatly pleased, and thought that, after a long time, the householder’s old wife had looked after them. And in the course of the day they did a double amount of work.
When Mṛgadhara inspected the work towards evening and saw that much had been done, he asked if additional day-labourers had been employed. Being told that this was not the case, he asked what the reason was that a double amount of work had been accomplished. The reply was, “O master, as is the food so is the labour.” “What is the meaning of that?” he asked. Whereupon a full account was given to him of how everything had come to pass.
Mṛgadhara’s sons spoke about this to their wives, who said, “If we, like Viśākhā, were to steal things from the house and thereby give pleasure to the day-labourers, the master and the labourers would be pleased with us too.” Whereupon Mṛgadhara said to Viśākhā, “O daughter, in what manner did you prepare the food?” She told him all about it. Mṛgadhara was much pleased, asked her to manage the affairs of the household, and ordered all the people of the house to perform, according to Viśākhā’s wishes, whatsoever tasks she might allot to them. She thus became the mistress of the house, and as she was excellent in her behaviour and in her whole nature, all the people of the house rejoiced.
At another time it happened that some geese from Uttarakurudvīpa flew over the house, carrying rice which had grown without any ploughing or sowing having taken place. The geese in Rājagṛha saw them and cackled, and they in their turn cackled, not being able to subdue the force of instinct, so that some of the ears of rice fell on [[118]]the roofs of Rājagṛha. The king distributed them among the ministers, and Mṛgadhara gave his share to Viśākhā. She placed them in a box and afterwards handed them over to the husbandmen. They were greatly pleased, and prepared a small field for them. And after it had been sowed with their seed at the fitting time and the deity had sent down rain, there grew up splendid rice, answering to the seed. Next year, moreover, they had a very abundant harvest, and in the following year a still more abundant one. Consequently all the granaries were filled with the rice brought by the geese.
When it came to pass that Prasenajit, the king of Kośala, was attacked by an illness, and all the physicians were summoned and consulted, they gave it as their opinion that if some of the rice brought by the geese could be found, and soup were to be made of it, and the king were to partake thereof, in that case he would recover. So the king called the ministers together, and asked them what they had done with the ears of rice which the geese had brought, and which he had given to them. Some of them said, “O king, we gave them to the temple;” and others, “We threw them into the fire;” or others, “We fastened them up in the vestibule.” But Mṛgadhara said, “I gave them to Viśākhā. I will inquire what she has done with them.” When he asked Viśākhā she replied, “O master, does some one wish to partake of the geese-brought rice?”
“As the king is ill, the doctors have prescribed for him the rice which the geese brought hither.”
Then Viśākhā filled a golden vase with the geese-brought rice and sent it to the king. The king ate thereof and recovered.