Buddhist Birth Stories (Jātaka Tales) — SelectionsBuddhismLegend / Oral TraditionPaliShareBuddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 27T. W. Rhys Davids (1880) - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 availableT. W. Rhys Davids (1880)LanguageEnglishEspañol‹Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 1Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 2Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 3Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 4Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 5Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 6Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 9Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 10Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 11Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 12Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 13Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 14Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 15Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 16Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 18Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 19Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 20Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 21Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 22Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 23Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 24Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 25Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 26Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 27Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 28Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 29Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 30Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 31Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 32Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 33Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 34Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 35Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 36Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 37Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 38Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 39Buddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 40›Tale No. 27: The Elephant and the Dog / Abhiṇha JātakaBuddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 27ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter“No longer can he take a morsel even,” etc.--This the Master told when at Jetavana about an old monk and a lay convert. At Sāvatthi, the story goes, there were two friends. One of them entered the Order, and went every day to get his meal at the house of the other. The other gave him to eat, and ate himself; and went back with him to the monastery, sat there chatting and talking with him till sunset, and then returned to the city. The other, again, used to accompany him to the city gate, and then turn back. And the close friendship between them became common talk among the brethren. Now one day the monks sat talking in the Lecture Hall about their intimacy. When the Teacher came, he asked them what they were talking about, and they told him. Then he said, “Not now only, O mendicants, have these been close allies; they were so also in a former birth.” And he told a tale. * * * * * Long ago, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the Bodisat became his minister. At that time a dog used to go to the state elephant’s stable, and feed on the lumps of rice which fell where the elephant fed. Being attracted there by the food, he soon became great friends with the elephant, and used to eat close by him. At last neither of them was happy without the other; and the dog used to amuse himself by catching hold of the elephant’s trunk, and swinging to and fro. But one day there came a peasant who gave the elephant-keeper money for the dog, and took it back with him to his village. From that time the elephant, missing the dog, would neither eat nor drink nor bathe. And they let the king know about it. He sent the Bodisat, saying, “Do you go, Paṇḍit, and find out what’s the cause of the elephant’s behaviour.” So he went to the stable, and seeing how sad the elephant looked, said to himself, “There seems to be nothing bodily the matter with him. He must be so overwhelmed with grief by missing some one, I should think, who had become near and dear to him.” And he asked the elephant-keepers, “Is there any one with whom he is particularly intimate?” “Certainly, Sir! There was a dog of whom he was very fond indeed!” “Where is it now?” “Some man or other took it away.” “Do you know where the man lives?” “No, Sir!” Then the Bodisat went and told the king, “There’s nothing the matter with the elephant, your majesty; but he was great friends with a dog, and I fancy it’s through missing it that he refuses his food.” And so saying, he uttered the stanza: No longer can he take a morsel even Of rice or grass; the bath delights him not! Because, methinks, through constant intercourse, The elephant had come to love the dog. When the king heard what he said, he asked what was now to be done. “Have a proclamation made, O king, to this effect: ’A man is said to have taken away a dog of whom our state elephant was fond. In whose house soever that dog shall be found, he shall be fined so much!’” The king did so; and as soon as he heard of it, the man turned the dog loose. The dog hastened back, and went close up to the elephant. The elephant took him up in his trunk, and placed him on his forehead, and wept and cried, and took him down again, and watched him as he fed. And then he took his own food. Then the king paid great honour to the Bodisat for knowing the motives even of animals. * * * * * When the Teacher had finished this discourse, and had enlarged upon the Four Truths, he made the connexion and summed up the Jātaka, “He who at that time was the dog was the lay convert, the elephant was the old monk, but the minister Paṇḍit was I myself.” ‹Previous chapterBuddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 26Next chapterBuddhist Birth Stories, Vol. I 28›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. Public domain