Then the Hare having run round [the cave], “There! The small gallop,” he said. Again having gone running round, and [then] having jumped over the Cat’s head, while he was running away he said, “There! The great gallop,” and ran off.
Durayā. North-western Province.
How the Cat became an Upāsakā.[6] (Variant.)
At a certain time, at the house of a Gamarāla, milk having been taken and placed on the shelf by him [to curdle], the Gamarāla went to the chena.
There is a Cat at the house. The Cat having looked [to see] when the Gamarāla was not there, went to the shelf to eat the curds by stealth. Having gone there and eaten them by stealth, as he was coming away the Gamarāla came home from the chena, and the Cat, becoming afraid, sprang down.
The Gamarāla’s rosary was hanging on the shelf. As the Cat deceitfully was springing down, the rosary fell on the Cat’s neck. Then while the rosary was on its neck it goes away. Why? Should the Gamarāla get to know about its eating the curds he would thrash it inordinately.
Well then, as it was going it met with a Rat. The Rat [seeing the rosary] asked the Cat, “Upāsakarāla,[7] where are you going?”
“I am going to guard the Precepts,” he said. “You also come and go along with me,” he said.
At the time when the two were going they met with the Squirrel called the Three-lined Chief.[8] “Upāsakarāla, where are you going?” he asked.