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MUNIPATI
131
The monk protested,
' It is not thy soul, oh merchant, that weeps That's the lot of my soul You should not bring a false charge against a monk like this Like Devi, a thief's spouse, you are only extending invitation to repentance. One who - causes unnecessary pain to a monk inevitably repents"
"How is that? What is Devi's story?" Munipati started,
"There lived in a certain village in Magadha -a thief named Vira Devi was his wife Vira's daily profession was to break into other people's houses This is how he earned his daily bread In a hole in the wall of his house, there lived a mongoose who gave birth to an offspring The little creature was Devi's pet and she supplied it with food everyday Now, Devi also gave birth to a son, and when the son grew up, he played with the young mongoose One day, Devı left the sleeping child on a bamboo platform and went out on some domestic errand The mongoose was there Just then a snake came out of the hole and crawled near the boy The mongoose saw it and tore it to pieces As the lady was coming back, the happy mongoose met her on the way When the lady saw blood on its mouth, she thought that her own son must have been killed by It So she killed the mongoose on the spot. Then she rushed to her bed-room where she found her own boy quite safe, but pieces of a dead snake lay scattered on the floor The lady was heartily sorry for having killed the mongoose who had in fact saved her son's life Thereafter, she could never get rid of her penitence You are doing the same to me. You are doing something for which you will repent for ever You should think twie before you charge anyone"
Sur ' You are like that bhila who put to danger the life of - an elephant who produced pearls”
