Page:Buddhist Legends Part 1.djvu/83

Rh burning-ground and wept and lamented. The son, reborn as a deity, decided to teach the father a lesson, and resuming human form, went to the burning-ground and wept and lamented also. "Why are you weeping?" inquired the father. "I want the sun and the moon," replied the son. "You are a fool." "But which of us is the bigger, fool, I who weep for what exists, or you who weep for what does not exist?"

In iv. 5 we read of another miser, a rich man named Niggardly. One day he saw a half-starved countryman eating a round cake stuffed with sour gruel. The sight made him hungry; but for fear that, if he said anything to his wife, many others might wish to eat with him and his substance might thus be wasted, he walked about all day long, enduring the pangs of hunger as best he could, until finally he was forced to take to his bed. His wife begged him to tell her what was the matter with him, suggesting that perhaps the king or some member of his household might be the cause of his woe. "Nothing of the sort." "Then perhaps you have a craving for something." When Niggardly heard this, he was struck dumb. Finally he admitted that he should like a round cake to eat. "Why did n't you tell me so before? I will bake enough cakes for all the residents of the street." "Why for them?" "Then enough for you and your children and your wife." "Why for them?" "Then enough for you and me." "Why for you?" "Very well, I will bake just enough for you." But for fear others might get wind of the fact that there was cooking going on in the house, Niggardly compelled his wife to bake the cake on the top floor of the house. By direction of the Buddha, Elder Moggallāna flew through the air to Niggardly's house and stood poised in the air outside of the window. When Niggardly saw the Elder, knowing very well that he had come for food, he sputtered and blustered, declaring that, for all the Elder's pains, he should get nothing. Finally the Elder began to belch forth smoke, whereupon Niggardly said to his wife, "Cook one tiny little cake for him and let's get rid of him. But each cake his wife baked grew bigger than the previous one, and when his wife tried to take a single cake from the basket, the cakes all stuck together. In despair Niggardly presented cakes, basket, and all to the Elder.

We are told in ii. 7 b that when Magha and his thirty-two companions were reborn in the World of the Thirty-three as Sakka and the Devas, the Asuras prepared strong drink to welcome the new deities. Sakka and his companions would not touch it, but the Asuras got very