Page:Buddhist Birth Stories, or, Jātaka Tales.djvu/284

168 Long ago when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, in the land of Kāsi, the Bodisat was born in a treasurer's family; and when he grew up he received the post of treasurer, and was called Chullaka. And he was wise and skilful, and understood all omens. One day as he was going to attend upon the king he saw a dead mouse lying on the road; and considering the state of the stars at the time, he said, "A young fellow with eyes in his head might, by picking this thing up, start a trade and support a wife."

Now a certain young man of good birth, then fallen into poverty, heard what the official said, and thinking, "This is a man who wouldn't say such a thing without good reason," took the mouse, and gave it away in a certain shop for the use of the cat, and got a farthing for it.

With the farthing he bought molasses, and took water in a pot. And seeing garland-makers returning from the forest, he gave them bits of molasses, with water by the ladle-full. They gave him each a bunch of flowers; and the next day, with the price of the flowers, he bought more molasses; and taking a potful of water, went to the flower garden. That day the garland-makers gave him, as they went away, flowering shrubs from which half the blossoms had been picked. In this way in a little time he gained eight pennies.

Some time after, on a rainy windy day, a quantity of dry sticks and branches and leaves were blown down by the wind in the king's garden, and the gardener saw no way of getting rid of them. The young man went and