Page:Buddhist Birth Stories, or, Jātaka Tales.djvu/364

248 And do you give gifts, and keep the commandments, and rule your kingdom in righteousness and equity!"

And when the Bodisat had thus exhorted the king, they took off his harness. And as they were taking it off, piece by piece, he breathed his last.

Then the king had a funeral performed for him, and gave the knight great honour, and took an oath from the seven kings that they would not rebel against him, and sent them away each to his own place. And he ruled his kingdom in righteousness and equity, and so at the end of his life passed away according to his deeds.

The Teacher added, "Thus, O mendicants, the wise, even in former times, exerted themselves unremittingly, and did not give in when they received a check. How then can you lose heart, after being ordained according to a system of religion so adapted to lead you to salvation!" And he then explained the Truths.

When his exhortation was concluded, the monk who had lost heart was established in the Fruit of Arahatship. Then the Teacher made the connexion, and summed up the Jātaka by saying, "The king of that time was Ānanda, the knight was Sāriputta, but the Bhoja thoroughbred was I myself."

END OF THE STORY OF THE BHOJA THOROUGHBRED.