In long-past times, in a spot well provided with flowers and fruits, in
the neighbourhood of a hill-town, there lived two chiefs of monkey
troops, each of which was composed of five hundred monkeys. One of the
two chiefs dreamed one night that he was placed alive in a caldron,
together with a retinue of five hundred monkeys. At this he was greatly
alarmed, and he gave way to lamentation. Before the break of day he
arose and called the monkeys together, and began to relate to them his
dreams.
“Honoured sirs, last night I dreamed an evil dream, in consequence
whereof we will leave this place.”
The monkeys said, “Let us do so and set forth.”
As Bodisats have dreams which are full of significance, the august
being said to the chief of the other band of monkeys, “As I have
dreamed such a dream, it is to be hoped that you will move somewhere
else.”
The other chief answered incredulously, “Do dreams then turn out true?
If you want to go, in that case go. But as I possess a widely extended
domain, I shall not go.”
When the first monkey-chief saw that the other did not believe in him,
he himself, together with his band, went away.
One day after this, as a servant-maid was roasting barley on the earth
in one of the houses of the hill-town, a wandering sheep came by bad
luck that way, and began to eat the grain. The maid struck the sheep
with a fire-brand, and the sheep ran blazing into the king’s elephant
stable. From its flames the elephant stable caught fire, and many
elephants were scorched. The king sent for the doctor, and asked how
the elephants which had been scorched by the fire ought to be treated.
The doctor prescribed monkeys cooked in barley-meal. Accordingly orders
were given to the hunters, who caught all the monkeys residing in the
neighbourhood. These monkeys, whose flesh had increased in the course
of time, the doctor threw into the caldron alive.
A deity uttered this verse: “It is not good to dwell in a town or a
village in which discord exists. On account of discord between the
sheep and the servant-maid, the monkeys perished.”