Page:Buddhist Birth Stories, or, Jātaka Tales.djvu/37

Rh they lived, and their caste and their tribe and their family, they were just on a par!

Then he thought, "I will make way for the most righteous." And he asked, "What kind of righteousness has this king of yours?"

And the other saying, "Such and such is our king's righteousness," and so proclaiming his king's wickedness as goodness, uttered the First Stanza :

The strong he overthrows by strength. The mild by mildness, does Mallika; The good he conquers by goodness, And the wicked by wickedness too. Such is the nature of this king! Move out of the way, O charioteer!

But the charioteer of the king of Benāres asked him, "Well, have you told all the virtues of your king?"

"Yes," said the other.

"If these are his virtues, where are then his faults?" replied he.

The other said, "Well, for the nonce, they shall be faults, if you like! But pray, then, what is the kind of goodness your king has?"

And then the charioteer of the king of Benāres called unto him to hearken, and uttered the Second Stanza:

Anger he conquers by calmness, And by goodness the wicked; The stingy he conquers by gifts, And by truth the speaker of lies. Such is the nature of this king! Move out of the way, O charioteer!"

And when he had thus spoken, both Mallika the king