_The Four Brothers who brought a Dead Lion to Life. Which is to blame
when he kills them all?_
Then the king went back to the sissoo tree, took the goblin, put him on
his shoulder, and started for the place he wished to reach. And as he
walked along the road, the goblin began to talk again: "Bravo, King!
You are a remarkable character. So I will tell you another story, and a
strange one. Listen."
* * * * *
There is a city called Flower-city. There lived a king named
Earth-boar. In his kingdom was a farm where a Brahman lived whose name
was Vishnuswami. His wife was named Swaha. And four sons were born to
them.
After a time the father died, and the relatives took all the money. So
the four brothers consulted together: "There is nothing for us to do
here. Suppose we go somewhere." And after a long journey they came to
the house of their maternal grandfather in a village called Sacrifice.
The grandfather was dead, but their uncles sheltered them, and they
continued their studies.
But they did not amount to much, so in time their uncles became
scornful in such matters as food and clothing. And they were troubled.
Then the eldest took the others aside and said: "Brothers, no man can
do anything anywhere on earth. Now I was wandering about discouraged,
and I came to a wood. There I saw to-day a dead man whose limbs
lay relaxed on the ground. And I wished for the same fate, and I
thought: 'He is happy. He is free from the burden of woe.' So I made
up my mind to die, and hanged myself with a rope from a tree. I lost
consciousness, but before the breath of life was gone, the cord was
cut and I fell to the ground. And when I came to myself, I saw a
compassionate man who had happened by at that moment, and he was
fanning me with his garment. And he said to me: 'My friend, you are
an educated man. Tell me why you are so despondent. The righteous man
finds happiness, the unrighteous man finds unhappiness because of his
unrighteousness, and for no other reason. If you made up your mind to
this because of unhappiness, practise righteousness instead. Why seek
the pains of hell by suicide?' Thus the man comforted me and went away.
And I gave up the idea of suicide and came here. You see I could not
even die when fate was unwilling. Now I shall burn my body at some holy
place, that I may not again feel the woes of poverty."
Then the younger brothers said to him: "Sir, why is an intelligent man
sad for lack of money? Do you not know that money is uncertain as an
autumn cloud? No matter how carefully won and guarded, three things are
fickle and bring sorrow at the last: evil friendships, a flirt, and
money. The resolute and sensible man should by all means acquire that
virtue which brings him Happiness a captive in bonds."
So the eldest brother straightway plucked up heart, and said: "What
virtue is it which we should acquire?"
Then they all reflected, and took counsel together: "We will wander
over the earth, and each of us will learn some one science." So they
appointed a place for meeting, and the four brothers started in four
different directions.
After a time they all gathered at the meeting-place, and asked one
another what they had learned. The first said: "I have learned a
science by which I can take the skeleton of any animal whatever and put
the proper kind of flesh on it."
The second said: "I have learned a science by which I can put on the
flesh-covered skeleton the proper hair and skin."
The third said: "My science is this. When the skin and the flesh and
the hair are there, I can put in the eyes and the other organs of
sense."
The fourth said: "When the organs are there, I can give the creature
the breath of life."
So all four went into the forest to find a skeleton and test their
various sciences. As fate would have it, they found the skeleton of
a lion there. And they took that, not knowing the difference.
[Illustration: The lion arose and killed his four creators.]
The first fitted out the skeleton with appropriate flesh. The second
added the skin and hair. The third provided all the organs. The fourth
gave life to the thing, and it was a lion. The lion arose with terrible
massive mane, dreadful teeth in his mouth, and curving claws in his
paws. He arose and killed his four creators, then ran into the forest.
Thus the Brahman youths all perished because they did wrong to make
a lion. Who could expect a good result from creating a bad-tempered
creature? Thus, if fate opposes, even a virtue that has been painfully
acquired does not profit, but rather injures. But the tree of manhood,
with the water of intelligence poured into its watering-trench of
conduct about the vigorous root of fate, generally bears good fruit.
* * * * *
When the goblin had told this story, he asked the king who was walking
through the night: "O King, remember the curse I mentioned, and tell me
which of them was most to blame for creating the lion?"
And the king reflected in silence: "He wants to escape again. Very
well. I will catch him again." So he said: "The one who gave life to
the lion, is the sinner. The others did not know what kind of an animal
it was, and just showed their skill in creating flesh and skin and hair
and organs. They were not to blame because they were ignorant. But the
one who saw that it was a lion and gave it life just to exhibit his
skill, he was guilty of the murder of Brahmans."
Then the goblin went home. And the king followed him again, and came to
the sissoo tree.