524 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



of discovering in what particulars he might have failed. So far as he 

 could see, his conduct had been quite correct ; but then he reflected, 

 " A person never sees his own faults ; it takes another person to see 

 them." Accordingly, he decided to find out just what was the candid 

 opinion of his subjects ; and after nightfall he put on a disguise, and 

 went about the streets eavesdropping. (251-2) 



The first house the king came to was that of the young man who had 

 just returned from Takkasila. The king observed that some robbers 

 were in the act of breaking into the house ; so he took his stand in the 

 shadow of the house and awaited developments. The robbers made 

 such a noise effecting an entrance that they woke up the young man ; 

 whereupon the latter began to recite his charm : " You 're at it, you 're 

 at it; why are you at it ? / know what you 're at." The robbers ex- 

 claimed, " We 're discovered ; run for your lives ! " dropped their spoils, 

 and fled. The next day the king sent for the young man, got him to 

 teach him the spell, and presented him with a thousand pieces of 

 money. (252-3) 



That very day the Prime Minister went to the royal barber, presented 

 him with a thousand pieces of money, and said, " The next time you 

 go to shave the king, cut his throat with a razor ; then you shall be 

 Prime Minister, and I shall become king." "Agreed," said the barber. 

 A day or two later the barber went in to shave the king ; and as he 

 sharpened his razor, he said to himself, " One stroke, and it 's all done." 

 Just at that moment the king began to recite the charm : "You 're at 

 it, you 're at it ; why are you at it 1 /know what you 're at." Beads 

 of sweat stood out on the forehead of the barber ; he threw his razor 

 away in terror, and flung himself at the feet of the king. Now kings 

 know a thing or two ; and the King of Benares immediately exclaimed, 

 " Villain, you thought I did n't know." " Sire, spare my life." " Have 

 no fear ; only tell me the truth." " It was the Prime Minister that 

 put me up to this." Thereupon the king banished the Prime Minister, 

 and appointed in his place the young man who taught him the spell. 

 (253-4) 



"At that time," said the Teacher, "Little Roadling was the young 

 man, and I was the World-renowned Teacher. Aforetime, too, Little 

 Roadling was a dullard, and I helped him." The Teacher closed his 

 discourse by telling the Culakasetthi Jataka and identifying the births. 

 On a later occasion the monks commented on Little Roadling's deter- 

 mination never to give up ; whereupon the Teacher assured them that 

 the highest rewards are within reach of the persevering disciple, and 

 pronounced Stanza 25, establishing many in the Fruits. (254-5) 



