Page:Buddhist Birth Stories, or, Jātaka Tales.djvu/327

 No. 13.

KAṆḌINA JĀTAKA.

The Dart of Love.

[The Introductory Story is the same as that of the Indriya Jātaka in Book VIII.]

Long ago a king of Magadha was reigning in Rājagaha, in the country of Magadha. At the season of harvest the deer suffered much at the hands of the people of Magadha. So they were wont to go away to the forest at the foot of the mountains.

Now a certain mountain stag, who lived in that jungle, made friends with a roe from the inhabited country. And when those deer came down from the mountain-side to return home, he, being caught in the snares of love, went down with them.

Then she said to him, "You, Sir, are but a simple deer of the mountains, and the inhabited country is beset with danger and difficulty. Pray don't go down with us!"

But he, being fallen deep into love for her, would not turn back, and went along with her.

Now when the people of Magadha saw that the time was come for the deer to return from the hills, they used to lie waiting in ambush all along the road. And just