In the town of Mithila there lived a young Brahman who, having
had a quarrel with his father-in-law, set out on a pilgrimage to
Banaras. Going through a forest he met a blind man, whose wife was
leading him by means of a stick, one end of which she held in her
hand, and her husband holding the other end was following her. She was
young and fair of face, and the pilgrim made signs to her that she
should go with him and leave her blind husband behind. The proposal
thus signified pleased this wanton woman, so she bade her husband
sit under a tree for a few minutes while she went and plucked him
a ripe mango. The blind man sat down accordingly, and his wife went
away with the Brahman. After waiting a long time in expectation of
his wife's return, and no person coming near him, (for it was an
unfrequented place), her infidelity became painfully apparent to him,
and he bitterly cursed both her and the villain who had enticed her
away from him. For six days he remained at the foot of the tree,
in woeful condition, without a morsel of rice or a drop of water,
and he was well nigh dead, when at length he heard the sound of
footsteps near him, and cried faintly for help. A man of the Setti
caste and his wife came up to him, and inquired how he happened to be
in such a plight. The blind man told them how his wife had deserted
him, and gone away with a young Brahman whom they had met, leaving
him there alone and helpless. His story excited the compassion of the
Setti and his wife. They gave him to eat of the small quantity of rice
they had with them, and, having supplied him with water to quench his
thirst, the Setti bade his wife lead him with his stick. The woman,
though somewhat reluctant to walk thus in company with a man who
was not her husband, yet, reflecting that charitable actions ought
never to be left undone, complied with her lord's request, and began
to lead the blind man. After travelling in this manner for a day,
the three reached a town, and took up their abode for the night in
the house of a friend of the Setti, where the latter and his wife
gave the blind man a share of their rice before tasting a morsel
themselves. At daybreak the next morning they advised him to try to
provide for himself in some way in that town, and prepared to resume
their journey. But the blind man, forgetting all the kindness they
had shown him, began to raise an alarm, crying out:--
"Is there no king in this city to protect me and give me my
rights? Here is a Setti rascal taking away my wife with him! As I am
blind, she denies that I am her husband, and follows that rogue! But
will not the king give me justice?"
The people in the street at once reported these words to the king,
who caused inquiry to be made into the matter. The fact of the Setti's
wife having led the blind man, seemed to indicate that the latter,
and not the Setti, was the woman's husband, and foolishly concluded
that both the Setti and his wife were the real criminals. Accordingly
he sentenced the Setti to the gallows, because he attempted to entice
away a married woman, and his wife to be burnt in the kiln, as she
wished to forsake her husband, and he a blind man. When these sentences
were pronounced the blind man was thunder-struck. The thought that
by a deliberate lie he had caused the death of two innocent persons
now stung him to the heart. By this lie he expected that the Setti
only should be punished, and that his wife would be made over to him
as his own wife, but now he found she also was condemned to death.
"Vile wretch that I am!" said he; "I do not know what sins I committed
in my former life to be thus blind now. My real wife, too, deserted me;
and I, heaping sins upon sins, have now by a false report sent to death
an innocent man and his wife, who rescued me from a horrible fate and
tended to all my wants last night. O, Mahesvara! what punishment you
have in reserve for me I know not."
This soliloquy, being overheard by some by-standers, was communicated
to the king, who bitterly reproaching himself for having acted so
rashly, at once released the good Setti and his wife, and caused the
ungrateful blind man to be burnt in the kiln.
"Thus, you see, my lord," added the fourth Minister, "how
nearly that king had plunged himself into a gulf of crime by his
rashness. Therefore, my most noble king, I would respectfully and
humbly request you to consider well the case of Bodhaditya, and punish
him severely if he be found really guilty."
Having thus spoken, the Fourth Minister obtained leave to depart.