Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta lived in the forest, having been born as a stag. Now the king much delighted in hunting, and a mighty man was he: he reckoned no other man worthy of the name of man. One day as he went a hunting he said to his courtiers. “Whoever lets a deer go by him, such and such shall be his punishment.” They thought, “One may stand in the house and not find the granary. When a deer is put up, by hook or by crook we must drive him to the place where the king is.” They made a pact among them to his effect, and posted the king at the end of the path. Then they surrounded a great covert and began to beat on the ground with cudgels and the like.

The first to be put up was our stag. Thrice he went round the thicket, looking for a chance of escape: on all other sides he saw men standing without a break, arm jostling arm and bow bow; only where the king was could he see a chance. With eyes glaring, he rushed at the king, dazzling him as though he cast sand in his eyes. Quickly the king saw him shot an arrow, and missed. You must know these deer are clever to keep clear of arrows. When the shafts come straight at them, the deer stand still and let them fly; let them come from behind, the deer outfly them faster; if they fall from above, they bend the back; from the side, they swerve a little; if the shafts are aimed at the belly they roll right over, and when they have gone by, off go the deer swift as a cloud which the wind scatters. Thus the king, when he saw this stag roll over, thought he was hit and gave the halloa. Up rose the stag, swift as the wind he was off, breaking the circle of men. The courtiers on both sides who saw the stag get away collected together, and asked, “Whose post did the stag make for?” “The king’s!” “But the king is shouting, I’ve hit him! What has he hit? Our king has missed, I tell you! He has hit the ground!” Thus they made sport of the king, and no stint. “These fellows are laughing at me,” thought the king; “they know not my measure.” Then girding up his loins, on foot, and sword in hand, he set off at speed crying, “I will catch the stag!” he kept him in sight and chased him for three leagues. The stag plunged into the forest, in plunged the king also. Now in the stag’s way was a pit, a great hole where a tree had rotted away, sixty cubits deep, and full of water to a depth of thirty cubits, yet covered over with weeds. The stag sniffed the smell of the water, and perceiving that it was a pit, swerved aside somewhat from his course. But the king went straight on, and fell in. the stag, no longer hearing the sound of his footsteps, turned him about; and seeing no man, understood that he must have fallen into the pit. So he went and looked, and saw him in dire straits, struggling in the deep water; for the evil he had done the stag bore no malice , but pitifully thought, “Let not the king perish before my eyes: I will set him free from this distress.” Standing upon the edge of the pit, he cried out, “Fear nothing, O king, for I will deliver you from your distress.” Then with an effort, as earnest as though he would save his own beloved son, he supported himself upon the rock; and that king who had come after him to slay, him he drew up from out of the pit, sixty cubits in depth, and comforted him, and set him upon his own back, and led him forth from the forest, and set him down not far from his army. They he admonished the king, and established him in the Five Virtues. But the king could not leave the Great Being, but said to him: “My lord king of the stags, come with me to Benares, for I give thee the lordship over Benares, a city that spreads over twelve leagues, that you may rule over it.” But he said, “Great king! I am one of the animals, and I want no kingdom. If you have any care for me, keep the good precepts I have taught you, and teach your subjects to keep them too.” With this advice, he returned into the forest. And the king returned to his army, and as he remembered the noble qualities of the stag his eyes filled with tears. Surrounded by a division of his army, he went through the city, while the drum of the Law was beat, and caused this proclamation to be made: “From this day forward, let all the dwellers in this city observe the five virtues.”

But he told no one of the kindness done to him by the Great Being. After eating many choice meats, in the evening time, he reclined upon his gorgeous couch, and at daybreak remembering the noble qualities of the Great Being, he rose up and sat on the couch cross-legged, and with heart full of joy chanted his aspirations.

As the king was in the act of chanting, the sun uprose. His chaplain had come thus early to enquire after the king’s welfare, and as he stood at the door he heard the sound of this chant, and thought to himself. “Yesterday he king went a-hunting. Doubtless he missed the stag, and being derided by his courtiers declared that he would catch and kill the quarry himself. Then no doubt he chased him, being pricked in his pride as a warrior, and fell into a sixty-cubit pit; and the merciful stag must have pulled him out without a thought of the king’s offence against him. That is why the king is chanting this hymn, methinks.” Thus the brahmin heard every word of the king’s chant; and that which fell out betwixt the king and the stag became clear as a face reflected in a well-polished mirror. He knocked at the door with his finger-tips. “Who is there?” the king asked. “It is I, my lord, your chaplain.” “Come in, teacher,” said the king, and opened the door. He entered, and prayed victory for the king, and stood on one side. Then he said, “O great king! I know what happened to you in the forest. As you chased a stag you fell into a pit. And the stag resting upon the stone sides of the pit, drew you out of it. So you remembering his magnanimity chanted a hymn.”

“What!” thought the king, on hearing this–“the man did not go a-hunting with me, yet he knows the whole matter! How can he know it? I will ask him;”

“O brahmin! wast thou there upon that day?

Or from some other witness didst thou hear?

The veil of passion thou hast rolled away:

Thou seest all: thy wisdom makes me fear.”

But the brahmin said, “I am no Buddha all-knowing; only I over-heard the hymn that you sang, without missing the meaning, and so the fact became clear before me.”

The king was delighted, and gave him a rich present.

From then onwards the king was devoted to alms giving and good deeds, and his people being also devoted to good deeds as they died went to swell the hosts of heaven.

Now one day it happened that the king went into his park with the chaplain to shoot at a mark. At that period Sakka had been pondering when came all the new sons and daughters of the gods, whom he beheld so numerous about him. Pondering, he perceived the whole story how the king had been rescued from the pit by that stag, and how he had become stablished in virtue, and how by the power of this king, multitudes did good deeds and heaven was being filled; and now the king had gone into his park to shoot at a mark. Then he also went there, that with the voice of a lion he might proclaim the nobleness of the stag, and make known that himself was Sakka, and poised in the air might discourse on the Law, and declare the goodness of mercy and the Five Virtues, and then return. Now the king intending to shoot at his mark strung a bow and fitted an arrow to the string. At that moment Sakka by his power made the stag to appear betwixt the king and the mark; the king seeing it did not let fly. Then Sakka, entering into the body of the chaplain said:

“Thy shaft is death to many a mighty thing:

Why dost thou hold it quiet on the string?

Let the shaft fly and kill the stag forthwith:

’Tis meat for monarchs, O most sapient king!”

Thereto the king answered:

“I know it, brahmin, no less sure than thou:

The stag is meat for warrior men, I vow,

But I am grateful for a service done.

And therefore hold my hand from killing now.”

Then Sakka asked:

“It is no stag, O mighty monarch! but a Titan is this thing,

Thou art king of men; but kill it – of the gods thou shalt be king.

But if thou heasitate, O valiant king!

To kill the stag, because he is thy friend:

To death’s cold river and to death’s dread king.

Thou and thy wife and children shall descend.”

At this the king replied:

“So be it. to death’s river and death’s king

Send me, my wives and children, all my train

Of friends and comrades; I’ll not do this thing,

And by my hand this stag shall not be slain.

Once in a grisly forest full of dread

That very stag saved me from hopeless woe.

How can I wish my benefactor dead

After such service done me long ago?”

Then Sakka came forth from the chaplain’s body, and put on his own shape, and poised in the air said the noble worth of the king:

“Live long on earth, O true and faithful friend!

Comfort with truth and goodness this domain;

Then hosts of maidens round thee shall attend

While thou as Indra mid the gods shalt reign.

From passion free, with ever-peaceful heart,

When strangers crave, supply their weary need;

As power is given thee, give, and play thy part,

Blameless, till heaven shall be thy final meed.”

Thus saying, Sakka king of the gods continued as follows: “I came hither to try you, O king, and you have given me no hold. Only be vigilant.” And with this advice he returned to his own place.