The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
treacherous as gambling, fickle as a wave, intoxicating as wine. But
she remains as persistently constant to a king, who is self-contained,
well-advised, free from vice, and knows differences of character,
as if she were tied with a rope. So you must now remain attentive
to the words of the wise, and glad at the slaughter of your enemies,
rule a realm free from opponents." When the minister Chirajívin said
this to the crow-king Meghavarna, the latter loaded him with honours,
and ruled as he recommended.
When Gomukha had said this, he went on to say to the son of the
king of Vatsa; "So you see, king, that even animals are able to rule
prosperously by means of discretion, but the indiscreet are always
ruined and become the laughing-stock of the public."
Story of the foolish servant.
For instance a certain rich man had a foolish servant. He, while
shampooing him, in his extreme folly gave him a slap on his body,
(for he fancied in his conceit that he thoroughly understood the
business while he really knew nothing about it,) and so broke his
skin. Then he was dismissed by that master and sank into utter despair.
"The fact is a man who, while ignorant, thinks himself wise, and
rushes impetuously at any business, is ruined; hear another story in
proof of it."
Story of the two brothers who divided all that they had. [103]
In Málava there were two Bráhman brothers, and the wealth they
inherited from their father was left jointly between them. And while
dividing that wealth, they quarrelled about one having too little
and the other having too much, and they made a teacher learned in the
Vedas arbitrator, and he said to them; "You must divide every single
thing into two halves, in order that you may not quarrel about the
inequality of the division." When the two fools heard this, they
divided every single thing into two equal parts, house, beds, et
cetera; in fact all their wealth, even the cattle. They had only one
female slave; her also they cut in two. When the king heard of that,
he punished them with the confiscation of all their property.
"So fools, following the advice of other fools, lose this world and
the next. Accordingly a wise man should not serve fools: he should
serve wise men. Discontent also does harm, for listen to this tale."
The story of the mendicants who became emaciated from discontent.
There were some wandering mendicants, who became fat by being satisfied
with what they got by way of alms. Some friends saw this and began
to remark to one another; "Well! these mendicants are fat enough,
though they do live on what they get by begging." Then one of them
said,--"I will shew you a strange sight. I will make these men thin,
though they eat the same things as before." When he had said this,
he proceeded to invite the mendicants for one day to his house,
and gave them to eat the best possible food, containing all the
six flavours. [104] And those foolish men, remembering the taste
of it, no longer felt any appetite for the food they got as alms;
so they became thin. So that man who had entertained them, when he
saw these mendicants near, pointed them out to his friends, and said;
"Formerly these men were sleek and fat, because they were satisfied
with the food which they got as alms, now they have become thin, owing
to disgust, being dissatisfied with their alms. Therefore a wise man,
who desires happiness, should establish his mind in contentment; for
dissatisfaction produces in both worlds intolerable and unceasing
grief." When he had given his friends this lesson, they abandoned
discontent, the source of crime; to whom is not association with the
good improving? "Now king, hear of the fool and the gold."
Story of the fool who saw gold in the water. [105]
A certain young man went to a tank to drink water. There the fool saw
in the water the reflection of a golden-crested bird, that was sitting
on a tree. [106] This reflection was of a golden hue, and, thinking it
was real gold, he entered the tank to get it, but he could not lay hold
of it, as it kept appearing and disappearing in the moving water. But
as often as he ascended the bank, he again saw it in the water, and
again and again he entered the tank to lay hold of it, and still he
got nothing. Then his father saw him and questioned him, and drove away
the bird, and then, when he no longer saw the reflection in the water,
explained to him the whole thing, and took the foolish fellow home.
"Thus foolish people, who do not reflect, are deceived by false
suppositions, and become the source of laughter to their enemies, and
of sorrow to their friends. Now hear another tale of some great fools."
Story of the servants who kept rain off the trunks. [107]
The camel of a certain merchant gave way under its load on a
journey. He said to his servants, "I will go and buy another camel
to carry the half of this camel's load. And you must remain here,
and take particular care that, if it clouds over, the rain does not
wet the leather of these trunks, which are full of clothes." With
these words the merchant left the servants by the side of the camel,
and went off, and suddenly a cloud came up and began to discharge
rain. Then the fools said; "Our master told us to take care that the
rain did not touch the leather of the trunks;" and after they had made
this sage reflection, they dragged the clothes out of the trunks and
wrapped them round the leather. The consequence was, that the rain
spoiled the clothes. Then the merchant returned, and in a rage said
to his servants; "You rascals! Talk of water! Why the whole stock of
clothes is spoiled by the rain." And they answered him; "You told us
to keep the rain off the leather of the trunks. What fault have we
committed?" He answered; "I told you that, if the leather got wet,
the clothes would be spoiled: I told it you in order to save the
clothes, not the leather." Then he placed the load on another camel,
and when he returned home, imposed a fine on his servants amounting
to the whole of their wealth.
"Thus fools, with undiscerning hearts, turn things upside down, and
ruin their own interests and those of other people, and give such
absurd answers. Now hear in a few words the story of the fool and
the cakes."
Story of the fool and the cakes. [108]
A certain traveller bought eight cakes for a pana; and he ate six of
them without being satisfied, but his hunger was satisfied by eating
the seventh. Then the blockhead exclaimed; "I have been cheated;
why did I not eat this cake, which has allayed the pangs of hunger,
first of all? Why did I waste those others, why did I not store them
up?" In these words he bewailed the fact that his hunger was only
gradually satisfied, and the people laughed at him for his ignorance.
Story of the servant who looked after the door. [109]
A certain merchant said to his foolish servant; "Take care of the
door of my shop, I am going home for a moment. After the merchant had
said this, he went away, and the servant took the shop-door on his
shoulder and went off to see an actor perform. And as he was returning,
his master met him and gave him a scolding. And he answered, "I have
taken care of this door as you told me."
"So a fool, who attends only to the words of an order and does not
understand the meaning, causes detriment. Now hear the wonderful
story of the buffalo and the simpletons."
Story of the simpletons who ate the buffalo.
Some villagers took a buffalo belonging to a certain man, and killed
it in an enclosure outside the village, under a banyan-tree, and,
dividing it, ate it up. The proprietor of the buffalo went and
complained to the king, and he had the villagers, who had eaten
the buffalo, brought before him. And the proprietor of the buffalo
said before the king, in their presence; "These foolish men took
my buffalo under a banyan-tree near the tank, and killed it and ate
it before my eyes." Whereupon an old fool among the villagers said,
"There is no tank or banyan-tree in our village. He says what is not
true: where did we kill his buffalo or eat it?"
When the proprietor of the buffalo heard this, he said; "What! is there
not a banyan-tree and a tank on the east side of the village? Moreover,
you ate my buffalo on the eighth day of the lunar month." When
the proprietor of the buffalo said this, the old fool replied,
"There is no east side or eighth day in our village." When the king
heard this, he laughed, and said, to encourage the fool; "You are a
truthful person, you never say anything false, so tell me the truth,
did you eat that buffalo or did you not?" When the fool heard that,
he said, "I was born three years after my father died, and he taught
me skill in speaking. So I never say what is untrue, my sovereign;
it is true that we ate his buffalo, but all the rest that he alleges
is false." When the king heard this, he and his courtiers could not
restrain their laughter; so the king restored the price of the buffalo
to the plaintiff, and fined those villagers.
"So, fools, in the conceit of their folly, while they deny what need
not be denied, reveal what it is their interest to suppress, in order
to get themselves believed."
Story of the fool who behaved like a Brahmany drake.
A certain foolish man had an angry wife, who said to him; "To-morrow
I shall go to my father's house, I am invited to a feast. So if
you do not bring me a garland of blue lotuses from somewhere or
other, you will cease to be my husband, and I shall cease to be
your wife." Accordingly he went at night to the king's tank to fetch
them. And when he entered it, the guards saw him, and cried out; "Who
are you?" He said, "I am a Brahmany drake," but they took him prisoner;
and in the morning he was brought before the king, and when questioned,
he uttered in his presence the cry of that bird. Then the king himself
summoned him and questioned him persistently, and when he told his
story, being a merciful monarch, he let the wretched man go unpunished.
Story of the physician who tried to cure a hunchback.
And a certain Bráhman said to a foolish physician; "Drive in the hump
on the back of my son who is deformed." When the physician heard that,
he said; "Give me ten panas, I will give you ten times as many, if I
do not succeed in this." Having thus made a bet, and having taken the
ten panas from the Bráhman, the physician only tortured the hunchback
with sweating and other remedies. But he was not able to remove the
hump; so he paid down the hundred panas; for who in this world would
be able to make straight a hunchbacked man?
"So the boastful fashion of promising to accomplish impossibilities
only makes a man ridiculous. Therefore a discreet person should not
walk in these ways of fools." When the wise prince Naraváhanadatta
had heard, at night, these tales of fools from his auspicious-mouthed
minister, named Gomukha, he was exceedingly pleased with him.
And though he was pining for Saktiyasas, yet, owing to the pleasure
he derived from the stories that Gomukha told him, he was enabled
to get to sleep, when he went to bed, and slept surrounded by his
ministers who had grown up with him.
CHAPTER LXIII.
The next morning Naraváhanadatta woke up, and thinking on his beloved
Saktiyasas, became distracted. And thinking that the rest of the month,
until he married her, was as long as an age, he could not find pleasure
in anything, as his mind was longing for a new wife. When the king,
his father, heard that from the mouth of Gomukha, out of love for
him, he sent him his ministers, and Vasantaka was among them. Then,
out of respect for them, the prince of Vatsa managed to recover
his composure. And the discreet minister Gomukha said to Vasantaka;