Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/272

 you.* And the other is like it; say, what is there attractive in these?" When he said this to the merchant's wife, and she saw the eye, she was despondent, and said, " Alas ! I, unhappy wretch that I am, have done an evil deed, in that I have become the cause of the tearing out of your eye !" When the beggar heard that, he said,— " Mother, do not be grieved, for you have done me a benefit; hear the following example, to prove the truth of what I say."

Story of the ascetic who conquered anger.:— There lived long ago, in a certain beautiful garden on the banks of the Ganges, a hermit animated by the desire of experiencing all asceticism. And while he was engaged in mortifying the flesh, it happened that a certain king came there to amuse himself with the women of his harem. And after he had amused himself, he fell asleep under the influence of his potations, and while he was in this state, his queens left him out of thoughtlessness and roamed about in the garden. And beholding in a corner of the garden that hermit engaged in meditation, they stood round him out of curiosity, wondering what on earth he could be. And as they remained there a long time, that king woke up, and not seeing his wives at his side, wandered all round the garden. And then he saw the queens standing all round the hermit, and being enraged, he slashed the hermit with his sword out of jealousy. What crime will not sovereign power, jealousy, cruelty, drunkenness, and indiscretion cause separately, much more deadly are they when combined, like five fires, † Then the king departed, and though the hermit's limbs were gashed, he remained free from wrath; whereupon a