Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 21.djvu/236

Rh with wild beasts, deprived of water, frightful for persons of no experience.

93. (Suppose further that) many thousand men have come to the forest, that waste track of wilderness which is fully five hundred yoganas in extent.

94. And he who is to act as their guide through that rough and horrible forest is a rich man, thoughtful, intelligent, wise, well instructed, and undaunted.

95. And those beings, numbering many kotis, feel tired, and say to the guide: 'We are tired, Master; we are not able to go on; we should like now to return.'

96. But he, the dexterous and clever guide, is searching in his mind for some apt device. Alas! he thinks, by going back these foolish men will be deprived of the possession of the jewels.

97. Therefore let me by dint of magic power now produce a great city adorned with thousands of kotis of buildings and embellished by monasteries and parks.

98. Let me produce ponds and canals; (a city) adorned with gardens and flowers, provided with walls and gates, and inhabited by an infinite number of men and women.

99. After creating that city he speaks to them in this manner: 'Do not fear, and be cheerful; you have reached a most excellent city; enter it and do your business, speedily.

100. 'Be joyful and at ease; you have reached the limit of the whole forest.' It is to give them a time for repose that he speaks these words, and, in fact, they recover from their weariness.

101. As he perceives that they have sufficiently