because it is most excellent. Those who make offerings with gentle hearts to the priests, who are the field where are to be sown the seeds of good works full of long suffering, shall have all their desires fulfilled. Even like the Nat-King Nagadatta their desires shall be fulfilled."

END OF THE STORY OF THE NAT-KING NAGADATTA.

CHAPTER XV.

STORY OF THE FOUR THUTHE'S SONS.

It was said that the Nat-King Nagadatta, after performing many good works, enjoyed a life which extended from the time of Kassapa Para to the time of Gotama Para; they who did evil deeds, when they suffered for them, did their lives also extend from the time of the most excellent Para Kassapa to that of the most excellent Para Gotama? It was in reference to this that Parā Taken, when he was in the Getavana monastery, related the story of King Pasenadikosala as follows:

"King Pasenadikosala one day, superbly adorned and mounted on his elephant Pūrika, attended by his retinue, made a tour round his city, keeping it on his right hand. While he was making his circuit, a man's wife, who was in a Pyathat with seven roofs, opened a window and looked out. When the king saw her, she seemed like the moon entering an opening in a thick bank of clouds, and he was so inflamed with desire that he very nearly fell off the back of his elephant.

"On returning to his palace, after completing the circuit of his city, the king asked one of the nobles, who was his intimate friend, whether in such-and-such

a place he had seen a Pyathat, and he replied that he had seen it. 'Whom did you see there?' the king asked. 'I saw a woman in the Pyathat,' he replied. Then the king sent him to inquire whether the woman had a husband or not. The nobleman went and made inquiries, and returning told the king that there was a husband. Hearing this the king told him to go and bring the husband. The nobleman accordingly went to the man and said, 'The king has sent for you.' The young man thought to himself, 'I shall be destroyed on account of my wife;' but not daring to oppose the king's commands, he went to the palace. When the king saw him, he said, 'Remain always in close attendance upon me.' The man said, 'Let me make an offering of tribute only.' The king said, 'I do not want your tribute; from this day forth remain constantly in close attendance upon me.' So saying he gave him a dā1 for a weapon. The king's design was to kill the young man as soon as he should be guilty of any offence, and then take his wife; but the young man, in fear for his life, was most unremitting in his attendance.

"When the king found that the young man was free from all fault, he called him and said, 'Here! young man at a distance of a yogana from here there is a river; procure from thence a Kamuttara waterlily and some Arunavati earth, and bring them here in the cool of the evening; if you fail to do so, I shall punish you." The young man being a slave among many, and therefore unable to refuse, agreed

'The national and characteristic appendage of the Burmese; a knife varying in size and weight according to the purpose for which it is required.

to do it. The Kamuttara water-lily and the Arunavati earth were only to be obtained in the country of the dragons. The young man thought, 'What shall I do to procure the lily and the earth?' In fear of his life he ran home as fast as he could, and asked his wife if the rice were cooked; his wife said that it was then being boiled; not able to wait till it was ready, he took the dripping rice out with a ladle and put it into a cup together with some meat; then he started off in all haste on his journey of a yogana. As he flew along, the rice was steamed.

"When the young man arrived at the bank of the river, he first laid aside the top part of the rice and then began eating. Just at this time he saw a man who wanted something to eat, and he gave him the top part of the rice which he had laid aside, and made him eat it. The young man, after finishing his repast, threw the remains of the rice into the river to feed the fish, and then cried out with a loud voice, 'May the Naga-Galon' Nat-King, who watches this river, help me; the king wanting to fix a fault upon me has sent me to procure a Kamuttarā water-lily and some Arunavati earth. I have made an offering of rice to him who wanted it; the thousand rewards of this offering, as well as the hundred successive rewards of the offering I made to the fish and all the other creatures in the river, I divide with the Nat-King. Procure for me a Kamuttara lily and some Arunavati earth.' The dragon who guarded the river hearing this, assumed the guise of an old man, and approaching the young man, begged a share of the offering from him; the young man said, 'I share it with you.'

1 A flying dragon.

Then he gave him one of the Kamuttara water-lilies, and some of the Arunavati earth, which were in the dragons' country.

"At this time the king was thinking to himself, 'Some people possess a charm; they have some kind of wisdom and ability so that I cannot fix a fault upon them.' Reflecting thus, he closed the door, although it was only morning. The young man arrived at the king's bathing-time; Open the door,' he cried, 'I come by the king's order.' But the door, by the king's command, remained closed. The young man finding they would not open the door, thought to himself, 'It is a difficult thing for me to save my life.' Then he placed the Arunavati earth upon the doorpost, and hung the Kamuttarā lily upon it, and shouted with a loud voice, 'Take notice all, that I have returned from executing the king's commission. king wanting to kill me, though guilty of no fault, sent me on this errand.' After this, he thought, 'Where shall I go now? The Rahans have gentle hearts; I will go and sleep in the monastery. People when they are happy feel no love for the Rahans; but when their hearts are heavy, they like to take refuge in a monastery; I too can find no other asylum.' With these reflections he went to the monastery and slept there.

The

"King Pasenadikosala could not sleep; the whole night he was thinking of the woman, and devising how he could kill the young man and get possession of her.

"The people in hell who have been immersed in the copper pot of sixty yoganas in extent, boiling and bubbling like the rice grains in a cooking-pot, after thirty