Page:Buddhist Birth Stories, or, Jātaka Tales.djvu/357

Rh next day the servants told the king, "Dogs have got in, O king, through the sliding door, and have eaten the leather work and the straps."

The king, enraged at the dogs, gave orders that dogs should be killed wherever they were seen. So there ensued a wholesale destruction of dogs: and finding there was no safety for them anywhere else, they escaped to the cemetery, and joined themselves to the Bodisat.

The Bodisat asked them the reason of their coming in such numbers together. "People say," was the answer, "that the leather work and the straps of a carriage in the harem have been gnawed by dogs. The king in his anger has commanded all dogs to be destroyed. Extreme is the danger we are in!"

The Bodisat said to himself, "There's no opportunity for dogs from outside to get into a place so guarded. It must be the royal dogs from within the palace that have done this thing. And now nothing happens to the thieves, and the innocent are punished with death. What if I were to make the king see who the real culprits are, and so save the lives of my kinsfolk?"

And he comforted his relations with the words, "Don't you be afraid! I will restore you to safety. Wait here whilst I go and see the king."

Then guiding himself by thoughts of love, he called to mind his Perfections, and uttered a command; saying, "Let none dare to throw a club or a clod at me!" and so unattended he entered the city. And when they saw him, not a creature grew angry at the sight of him.

Now the king, after issuing the order for the destruction of the dogs, sat himself down in the seat of judgment. The Bodisat went straight up to the place, and rushing