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spiritual teacher, to his parents, and then to all the members of his family. Moreover, he was exceedingly generous; when he saw a petitioner he was delighted.
That lunar day seemed to have slipped away, and yet was in his mind like an extra month,
That day was not counted, on which there was not the arrival of a petitioner.
That prince had a servant named Sajjana, whom he treated as a friend;
Sajjana* he was by name, but by character he was exceedingly wicked.
One day that Prince Lalitánga gave away to a beggar a very valuable ornament which his father had given him. Sajjana told the king of Lalitánga's vice of generosity. His report put the king in a rage. He summoned his son, and spoke to him at first with conciliatory words, but firmly, for a son is like a friend: for
A father should pet his son for five years, for ten years he should beat him;
But when the sixteenth year has arrived, he should treat his son as a friend.
He said: 'My son, have you not heard,
'A tree is burned from too much cold; famine comes from too much rain;
From too much giving comes unseemliness; "too much" is nowhere approved.†
For this reason, my son, you must spend less.' The prince said:
Father, even by great bestowing wealth does not come to destruction,
As the water in a great well, though drawn up by the village.
Nevertheless, I will not do what is displeasing to the king. The command of a superior must be implicitly obeyed.' Having said this, the prince went home. The prince was now forbidden to indulge in excessive generosity. The petitioners said: 'Prince,
'How is this? Having been, O king, like a wishing-jewel on earth from thy munificence,
How is it that thou hast now become like an ordinary stone?
*Sajjana means 'good man.'
My MSS. read nekshyate, but Böhtlingk ('Indische Sprüche,' No. 2504) reads neshyate, which makes better sense.
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