The youth said, “Lord, you must tell me the reasons for it.”
The Royal Preceptor replied, “If I should be unable to-morrow to say which is the centre of the country, the number of the stars, and the work which the God of the world of the Dēvas does, they will behead me to-morrow.”
Then the youth said, “Are you so much troubled about that? I will say those very things for you.”
Afterwards, at the time when the Royal Preceptor, on the morning of the following day, was setting off to go to the palace, he called the youth, and went with him to the palace. The King asked for the answers to these three sayings. Then the Royal Preceptor said, “What is there in these for me to tell you? Even the youth who looks after the goats for me knows those three sayings.” Then he told the youth to come forward, and the youth came near the King.
The King asked, “Dost thou know the centre of the country, and the number of the stars, and the work which the God of the world of the Dēvas does?”
The youth fixed a stick in the ground, and showed it. “Behold! Here is the centre of one’s country. Measure from the four quarters, and after you have looked at the account, if it should not be correct be good enough to behead me,” he said. The King lost over that.
Then he told him to say the number of the stars in the sky. Throwing down on the ground the goat-skin that he was wearing, “Count these hairs, and count the stars in the sky. Should they not be equal be good enough to behead me,” he said. The King lost over that also.
Thirdly, he told him to say what work the God of the world of the Dēvas does.
The youth said, “I will not say it thus.”
The King asked, “If so, how will you say it?”