Once upon a time when Brahmadatta reigned in Benares, the Bodhisatta came
to life as a young lion. And when fully grown he lived in a wood. At this
same time there was near the Western Ocean a grove of palms mixed with
vilva trees. A certain hare lived here beneath a palm sapling, at the foot
of a vilva tree.
One day this hare after feeding came and lay down beneath a young palm
tree. And the thought struck him: "If this earth should be destroyed, what
would become of me?" And at this very moment a ripe vilva fruit fell on a
palm leaf. At the sound of it, the hare thought, "This solid earth is
collapsing," and starting up he fled without so much as looking behind him.
Another saw him scampering off as if frightened to death, and asked the
cause of his panic flight. "Pray, don't ask me," he said. The other hare
cried, "Pray, sir, what is it?" and kept running after him. Then the hare
stopped a moment and without looking back he said, "The earth here is
breaking up." And at this the second hare ran after the other. And so first
one and then another hare caught sight of him running, and joined in the
chase till one hundred thousand hares all took flight together. They were
seen by a deer, a boar, an elk, a buffalo, a wild ox, a rhinoceros, a
tiger, a lion, and an elephant. And when they asked what it meant and were
told that the earth was breaking up, they too took flight. So by degrees
this host of animals extended to the length of a full league.
[Illustration: The Bodhisatta saw this headlong flight of the animals.]
When the Bodhisatta saw this headlong flight of the animals, and heard that
the cause of it was that the earth was coming to an end, he thought: "The
earth is nowhere coming to an end. Surely it must be some sound which was
misunderstood by them. And if I don't make a great effort, they will surely
perish. I will save their lives."
So with the speed of a lion he got before them to the foot of a mountain,
and lion-like roared three times. They were terribly frightened at the
lion, and stopped in their flight, stood huddled together. The lion went in
amongst them and asked why they were running away.
"The earth is collapsing," they answered.
"Who saw it collapsing?" he said.
"The elephants know all about it," they replied.
He asked the elephants. "We don't know," they said; "the lions know." But
the lions said, "We don't know; the tigers know." The tigers said, "The
rhinoceroses know." The rhinoceroses said, "The wild oxen know." The wild
oxen, "The buffaloes." The buffaloes, "The elks." The elks, "The boars."
The boars, "The deer." The deer said, "We don't know; the hares know." When
the hares were questioned, they pointed to one particular hare and said,
"This one told us."