Khuddaka Nikaya - Jataka - Ekanipata - Pannika Jataka

Jataka Vol. I: Book I.--Ekanipāta: No. 102. Paṇṇika-Jātaka



p. 244
No. 102.
PAṆṆIKA-JĀTAKA.
"He that should prove."--This story was told by the Master while at Jetavana,
about a lay-brother who was a greengrocer in Sāvatthi and made a living by the
sale of various roots and vegetables, and pumpkins and the like. Now he had a
pretty daughter who was as good and virtuous as she was pretty, but was always
laughing. And when she was asked in marriage by a family of his own station in
life, he thought "She ought to be married, but she's always laughing; and a bad
girl married into a strange family is her parents' shame. I must find out for
certain whether she is a good girl or not."
So one day he made his daughter take a basket and come with him to the forest to
gather herbs. Then to try her, he took her by the hand with whispered words of
love. Straightway the girl burst into tears and began to cry out that such a
thing would be as monstrous as fire rising out of water, and she besought him to
forbear. Then he told her that his only intent was to try her, and asked whether
she was virtuous. And she declared that she was and that she had never looked on
any man with eyes of love. Calming her fears and taking her back home, he made a
feast and gave her in marriage. Then feeling that he ought to go and pay his
respects to the Master, he took perfumes and garlands in his hand and went to
Jetavana. His salutations done and offerings made, he seated himself near the
Master, who observed that it was a long time since his last coming. Then the man
told the Blessed One the whole story.
"She has always been a good girl," said the Master. "You have put her to the
test now just as you did in days gone by." Then at the greengrocer's request he
told this story of the past.
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Once on a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares [412], the Bodhisatta
was a Tree-Sprite in a forest. And a lay-follower who was a greengrocer of
Benares had just the sane doubts of his daughter, and all fell out as in the
introductory story. And as her father took hold of her hand the weeping girl
repeated these verses:--
He that should prove my buckler strong,
My father, worketh me this wrong.
Forlorn in thickest wood I cry;
My helper proves my enemy.
Then her father calmed her fears, and asked whether she was a virgin. And when
she declared that she was, he brought her home and made a feast and gave the
girl in marriage.
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p. 245
His story ended, the Master preached the Four Truths, at the close whereof the
greengrocer was established in the First Path of Salvation. Then the faster
identified the Birth by saying, "The father and daughter of to-day were the
father and daughter in the story, and I the Tree-Sprite who witnessed the
scene."
[Note. Cf. No. 217.]



Next: No. 103. Veri-Jātaka