Page:Sacred Books of the Buddhists Vol 1.djvu/225

 cries of fear, without regarding each other, like soldiers whose chief warrior has been killed. Yet Sumukha, the commander-in-chief, did not withdraw from the side of the lord of swans.

25. A heart bound by affection does not mind imminent peril. Worse than death to such a one is the sorrow which the miserable distress of a friend inflicts on it.

To him the Bodhisattva said:

26. 'Go, Sumukha, go; it is not wise to linger here. What opportunity couldst thou have of helping me who am in this state?'

Sumukha spoke:

27. 'No final death can I incur, if I stay here, nor shall I, if I go, be freed from old age and death. I always attended on thee in thy prosperity. How, master, should I be capable of leaving thee in thy calamity ?

28. 'If I were to leave thee, prince of birds, on account of such a trifle as the thread of my own life, where could I find a shield against the rain-shower of blame?

29. 'It is not right, my liege, that I should leave thee in thy distress. Whatever fate may be thine, I am pleased with it, О lord of birds.'

The Bodhisattva spoke:

30. "What other may be the fate of an insnared bird than the kitchen ? How can that prospect please thee who art in the free possession of thy mind and thy limbs ?

31, 32. 'Or what profit dost thou see for me or thyself or the whole of our kindred in the death of both of us? And what profit mayst thou explain to be in giving up thy life on an occurrence, when that profit is as little to be seen as level and unlevel in the dark?'

Sumukha spoke:

33, 34. 'How, most excellent of birds, dost thou not perceive the profit in following the path of Righteousness? Honouring the Law of Righteousness in the