Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, a great merchant who possessed a fortune of eighty crores, had a son born to him; and he gave him the name of Maha-dhanaka, or Moneyaman. But never a thing he taught him; for said he, “My son will find study a weariness of the flesh.” Beyond singing and dancing, eating and feasting, the lad knew nothing. When he came of age, his parents provided him with a wife meet for him, and afterwards died. After their death, the youth surrounded by profligates, drunkards, and dicers, spent all his substance with all manner of waste and profusion.

Then he borrowed money, and could not repay it, and was dunned by his creditors. At last he thought, “What is my life to me? In this one existence I am as it were already changed into another being; to die is better.” Whereupon he said to his creditors, “Bring your bills, and come here. I have a family treasure laid up and buried on the bank of the Ganges, and you shall have that.” They went along with him. he made as though he were pointing out here and there the hiding place of his treasure (but all the while he intended to fall into the river and drown), and finally ran and threw himself into the Ganges. As the torrent bore him away, he cried aloud with a pitiful cry.

Now at that time the Great Being had been born as a Deer, and having abandoned the herd, was dwelling near a bend of the river all by himself, in a clump of sal trees mixed with fair-flowering mangoes: the skin of his body was of the colour of a gold plate. About midnight he heard this sad outcry, and thought, “I hear the voice of a man. While I live let him not die! I will save his life for him.” He saved the man in the river and brought him to the bank and to his own dwelling-place; where for two or three days he fed him with wild fruits. After this he said to the man, “O man, I will now convey you out of this wood, and set you in the road to Benares, and you shall go in peace. But I pray you, be not led away by greed of gain to tell the king or some great man, that in such a place is a golden deer to be found.” The man promised to observe his words; and the Great Being, having received his promise, took him upon his back and carried him to the road to Benares, and went his way.

On the day when he reached Benares, the Queen Consort, whose name was Khema, saw at morning in a dream how a deer of golden colour preached the Law to her; and she thought, “If there were no such creature as this, I will announce it to the king.”

Then she went to the king, and said, “Great king! I am anxious to hear the discourse of a golden deer. If I may, I shall live, but if not there is no living for me.” The king comforted her, saying, “If such a creature exists in the world of men, you shall have it.” Then he proclaimed: “Whomsoever should bring word of a golden deer, will get a thousand pieces of gold.” Just then this young merchant’s son was entering Benares; and on hearing the proclamation, he went before the king and said: “If you give me fair women and a village of choice along with the gift, I will tell the place.”

The king was glad and asked, “Where is this deer to be found?” “In such a place, my lord,” he replied, and declared the way they should go. With a great following he made the traitor guide him to the place, and then he said, “Order the army to halt.” When the army was brought to a halt, he went on, pointing with his hand, “There is the golden deer, in that place.”

When the king heard these words, he said to his troops, “Do not allow the deer to escape.” The king with a certain number of other was standing apart, and this man also stood not far off. The troops made noise. The Great Being heard the sound, and thought he, “It is the sound of a great host, therefore I must beware of them.” He decided to approach the king for his safety. The deer asked, “Who brought the news to you, that here this deer was to be found?”

The king was enchanted with his honey-voice and stood still in reverence. And the Great Being came up to the king, and talked pleasantly with him, standing on one side. All the host also dropped their weapons, and came up and surrounded the king. At that moment the Great Being asked his question of the king with a sweet voice (it was like one tinkling a golden bell): “Who brought the news to you, that here this deer was to be found?” Just then the wicked man came closer, and stood within hearing. The king pointed him out, saying, “There is he that informed me.”

On hearing this, the Great Being rebuked his treacherous friend, and said:

“Upon the earth are many men, of whom the proverb’s true:

It were better save a drowning log than such a one as you.”

When he heard this, the king said:

“Who is it you would blame in this, O deer?

Is it some man, or is it beast or bird?

I am possessed with an unbounded fear

At this your human speech which late I heard.”

Hereupon the Great Being replied, “O great king, I blame no beast and I blame no bird, but a man whom I saved earlier. And now I am in danger through it. Go with the wicked, and be sure you’ll rue it.”

The king when he heard this was wroth with the man. “What?” said he, “not to recognize his merit after such a good service! I will shoot him and kill him!”

Then the Great Being thought, “I would not have him perish on my account. And I will serve you at your need.”

The king was very glad to hear this, and lauded him:

“Surely this deer is good indeed,

To pay back ill for ill unwilling.

Let the wretch go! I give his meed,

All that you promised him fulfilling.

And you go where you will – good speed!”

At this the Great Being said, “O mighty king , men say one thing with their lips, and do another. The cry of jackals and of birds is understood with ease; but the word of men, O king, is harder far than these. A man may think, ‘This is my friend, my comrade, of my kin;’ but friendship goes, and often hate and enmity begin.”

When the king heard these words, he answered, “O king of the deer! Do not suppose that I am one of that kind; for I will not deny the boon I have promised you, not even if I lose my kingdom for it. Trust me.” And he gave him choice of a boon. The Great Being accepted this boon at his hands, and chose this: that all creatures, beginning with him-self, should be free from danger. This boon the king granted, and then took him back to the city of Benares and having adorned and decorated the city, and the Great also, caused him to discourse to the queen his wife. The Great Being discoursed to the queen, and afterwards to the king and all his court, in a human voice sweet as honey; he admonished the king to hold fast by the Ten Virtues of Kings, and he comforted the great multitude, and then returned to the woodland, where he dwelt among a heard of deer.

The king sent a drum beating about the city, with this proclamation: “I give protection to all creatures!” From that time onwards no one will do any harm to beast or bird.”

Herds of deer devoured the crops of mankind, and no one was able to drive them away. A crowd assembled in the king’s courtyard, and complained.

Hearing this, the king said:

“Be it the people’s wish or no, even if my kingdom cease,

I cannot wrong the deer, to whom I promised life and peace.

The people may desert me all, my royal power may die,

The boon I gave that royal deer I never will deny.”

The people listened to the king’s words, and finding themselves unable to say anything, departed. This saying was spread abroad. The Great Being heard of it, and assembling all the deer, laid his bidding on them: “From this time forward you must not devour the crops of men.” He then sent a message to men, that each should set up a placard on his own lands. The men did so; and at that sign even to this day the deer do not devour the crops.