Long ago two merchants, with five hundred waggons apiece, were
journeying along a forest road, where at one time there was too little
grass, at another too little water, and sometimes there was nothing at
all to be had. So when the merchants, who, as well as their oxen, were
in a state of great exhaustion, saw from the forest road a region in
which meadows and water were plentiful, they unharnessed their oxen,
and they bathed and drank much water. Now when the oxen, which had been
greatly exhausted by the want of grass and water, had drunk water and
eaten their fill of grass and recovered their strength, the leading one
among the first set said to its comrades, “O honoured ones, as we have
been completely exhausted by the want of grass and water, and this
place is full of water and pasture, if ye are so inclined, we will
remain here.”
But the leading ox of the other troop spoke to them in this wise, “O
honoured ones, as men are strong and have the mastery over even the
difficult to be subdued, and we should only suffer damage at their
hands, let us endure the burden which shall be laid upon us.”
When it had thus spoken, the first chief ox said angrily to its troop,
“O honoured ones, who has seen the further side of the moon? Let those
oxen submit to their burden. We will not endure ours.”
So when the merchants began to load their oxen, and the first set of
animals held stubbornly back, the merchants beat them and lacerated
them with thorny rods, and yoked them dripping with blood to the
waggons. But the others submitted to the yoke without resisting, so no
harm came to them. Thereupon a deity uttered this śloka:
“See how the steers which the ox misguided, bleeding and wounded,
suffer hunger and thirst. See how those which the ox rightly advised,
after leaving the forest, quaff cooling water.”