In olden times there was a painter in Madhyadeśa, who travelled on
business to the Yavana land, and took up his abode there in the house
of a mechanician. In order to wait upon the wearied traveller, the
mechanician sent an artificial maiden whom he had framed. [197] She
washed his feet, and then stood still. He called to her to draw near.
But she made no reply. As he was of the opinion that the mechanic had
no doubt sent her to him for his enjoyment, he seized her by the hand
and tried to draw her towards him. Thereupon, however, the artificial
maiden collapsed, and turned into a heap of chips. Being thus befooled,
he said to himself, “I have been made a fool of here in private. But in
return I will make a fool of the mechanician in the midst of the king’s
retinue.”
So he painted his own likeness on the door, just as if he had hanged
himself, and then he hid behind the door. When the time had gone by at
which he was wont to rise, the mechanician came to see why the painter
had not made his appearance, and imagined he saw him hanging there.
While he was considering what could be the painter’s reason for
depriving himself of life, he saw that the artificial maiden had
collapsed and turned into a heap of chips. Thereupon he fancied that
the painter had hanged himself out of vexation at having been made a
fool of.
Now it was the custom in the Yavana land, that whenever any one died
suddenly in any house, the funeral could not take place until
information thereof had been given to the king. So the mechanician went
to the king and told him that a painter from Madhyadeśa had put up at
his house, and that he had sent an artificial maiden to wait upon him,
and that the painter had seized her by the hand and tried to draw her
towards him, whereupon she had turned into a heap of chips; and that
the painter, out of vexation at being made a fool of, had hanged
himself. And he besought the king to have the corpse inspected, in
order that he might be able to bury it.
The king ordered his officials to undertake the inspection. When the
officials reached the spot, and began to consider how they should get
the hanged man down, some of them recommended that the rope should be
cut, and accordingly an axe was fetched. But when they were about to
cut the rope, they perceived that what was before them was only a door,
and that the mechanician had been made a fool of. Then the painter came
forth from his hiding-place and said, “O inmate of this house, you made
a fool of me in private. But I have made a fool of you in the midst of
the royal retinue.”