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may be induced to desist from this daring feat. He is still a notice, and we do not desire to discharge our arrows at him.
The Bodhi-sattva protested,
"Hit me if you can.
This is my challenge to you."
The archers accepted the challenge and discharged their arrows at a time. The Bodhi-sattva cut their arrows before they could touch him. With his own arrows, the Bodhi-sattva created an enclosure round himself so that the arrows discharged by the adversaries could not even come near him, whereas the arrows discharged by him puzzled his adversaries very severely. When the archers had exhausted all their arrows, the Bodhi-sattva, without dismantling his own enclosure of arrows, gave a jump and stood before the king. The people shouted a deafening applause, and offered him gifts of costly ribes and ornaments which made a huge pile. The ya lue of the treasure was 18 crores,
The king was the proud father of such a meritorious son. He received the Bodhi-sattva very cordially, and asked the name of this particular skill and that of the master-archer who had devised it. Said the Bodhi-sattvå.
"Sire ! This skill is called arrow-resisting (bäņavarodhini), and in the whole of the Jambu-dvipa, there is none who excels me in this."
The king - "My dear son! Display another skill. "
The Bodhi-sattva started,
"Sire ! These four skilled archers could not hit me though they enjoyed vantage over me in their corner positions. Now, from my position at the centre, I shall pierce all the four with a single arrow."
But the archers had no more courage to face his arrow and they withdrew, whereon four banana trees were placed at the four corners. A red thread was put through the eye at the far end of the arrow and it was then dis -
