The Four Brothers who brought a Dead Lion to Life. Which is
to blame when he kills them all?
Then the king went
back to the sissoo tree, took the Betal, put him on his shoulder, and started
for the place he wished to reach. And as he walked along the road, the Betal
began to talk again: "Bravo, King! You are a remarkable character. So I
will tell you another story, and a strange one. Listen."
There is a city called Kusumapura. There
lived a king named Dharanivaraah. In his kingdom was a farm where a Brahman
lived whose name was Vishnuswami. His wife was named Swaha. And four sons were
born to them.
After a time the
father died, and the relatives took all the money. So the four brothers
consulted together: "There is nothing for us to do here. Suppose we go
somewhere." And after a long journey they came to the house of their
maternal grandfather in a village called Yajnasthala. The grandfather was dead,
but their uncles sheltered them, and they continued their studies.
But they did not
amount to much, so in time their uncles became scornful in such matters as food
and clothing. And they were troubled.
Then the eldest
took the others aside and said: "Brothers, no man can do anything anywhere
on earth. Now I was wandering about discouraged, and I came to a wood. There I
saw to-day a dead man whose limbs lay relaxed on the ground. And I wished for the
same fate, and I thought: He is happy. He is free from the burden of woe.' So I
made up my mind to die, and hanged myself with a rope from a tree. I lost
consciousness, but before the breath of life was gone, the cord was cut and I
fell to the ground. And when I came to myself, I saw a compassionate man who
had happened by at that moment, and he was fanning me with his garment.
And he
said to me: My friend, you are an educated man. Tell me why you are so
despondent. The righteous man finds happiness, the unrighteous man finds
unhappiness because of his unrighteousness, and for no other reason. If you
made up your mind to this because of unhappiness, practice righteousness
instead. Why seek the pains of hell by suicide?' Thus the man comforted me and
went away. And I gave up the idea of suicide and came here. You see I could not
even die when fate was unwilling. Now I shall burn my body at some holy place,
that I may not again feel the woes of poverty."
Then the younger
brothers said to him: "Sir, why is an intelligent man sad for lack of
money? Do you not know that money is uncertain as an autumn cloud? No matter
how carefully won and guarded, three things are fickle and bring sorrow at the
last: evil friendships, a flirt, and money. The resolute and sensible man should
by all means acquire that virtue which brings him Happiness a captive in
bonds."
So the eldest
brother straightway plucked up heart, and said: "What virtue is it which
we should acquire?"
Then they all
reflected, and took counsel together: "We will wander over the earth, and
each of us will learn some one science." So they appointed a place for
meeting, and the four brothers started in four different directions.
After a time they
all gathered at the meeting-place, and asked one another what they had learned.
The first said: "I have learned a science by which I can take the skeleton
of any animal whatever and put the proper kind of flesh on it."
The second said:
"I have learned a science by which I can put on the flesh-covered skeleton
the proper hair and skin."
The third said:
"My science is this. When the skin and the flesh and the hair are there, I
can put in the eyes and the other organs of sense."
The fourth said:
"When the organs are there, I can give the creature the breath of
life."
So all four went
into the forest to find a skeleton and test their various sciences. As fate
would have it, they found the skeleton of a lion there. And they took that, not
knowing the difference.
The first fitted
out the skeleton with appropriate flesh. The second added the skin and hair.
The third provided all the organs. The fourth gave life to the thing, and it
was a
lion. The lion arose with terrible massive mane, dreadful teeth in his
mouth, and curving claws in his paws. He arose and killed his four creators, then
ran into the forest.
Thus the Brahman
youths all perished because they did wrong to make a lion. Who could expect a
good result from creating a bad-tempered creature? Thus, if fate opposed, even
a virtue that has been painfully acquired does not profit, but rather injures.
But the tree of manhood, with the water of intelligence poured into its
watering-trench of conduct about the vigorous root of fate, generally bears
good fruit.
When the Betal had told this story, he
asked the king who was walking through the night: "O King, remember the
curse I mentioned, and tell me which of them was most to blame for creating the
lion?"
And the king
reflected in silence: "He wants to escape again. Very well. I will catch
him again." So he said: "The one who gave life to the lion, is the
sinner. The others did not know what kind of an animal it was, and just showed
their skill in creating flesh and skin and hair and organs. They were not to
blame because they were ignorant. But the one
who saw that it was a lion and gave
it life just to exhibit his skill, he was guilty of the murder of
Brahmans."
Then the Betal
went home. And the king followed him again, and came to the sissoo tree.
To be continued...
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