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Some Intervening Stories in Gunapala's Jambacariyam
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age will not be able to procreate a son and secondly the farmer's son was a young man and so the daughter, if given in marriage, had no prospects to be happy at all.
The farmer wrongly thought that it was his son who blocked his way to second marriage. He, therefore, planned to do away with him so that no one would find a hitch to come forward to offer him his daugher. He fancied that he would, then, have a son by her.
As the farmer was preoccupied, while tilling the field, with the thoughts of killing his son, he, out of absentmindedness, cleared by ploughing that portion of the field also where the grains had already been sown. Seeing this senseless act of the father, the son mildly rebuked him saying "You have destroyed, father! what was already there for the sake of what is not there at all” and cited a stanza, in support of what he said, the meaning and significance of which was that one should not throw away what is already in band in the hope of what is not in hand. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush-the son meant to say.
The farmer suspected that he was fouod out by his son because what the son said by way of mere observation had a veild hint at what was passing in his mind at that time. He just collected himself and began to think with coolheadedness when he saw the field and found that he had, indeed, committed a mistake in ploughing that part of the field which was already sown with the seeds.
The farmer thanked his son in his mind for indirectly bringing him to his senses inasmuch as he now dropped the devilish design of putting an end to his son's life. The farmer thought wisely now that he would prove himself a fool by bargaining for a thing that was not existing at all 10 exchange for a thing which was already there in hand.
Sindhumi concluded advising Jambu that he should not veto the present happi. ness, promised by a conjugal life which is a dead certainty for the sake of a future happiness of the next world which is problematic. (JC, Uddesa, 9; pp. 96-197).
(2) The Story of a Mindless Monkey Dattasiri, the second of the eight wives, hearing Jambu's plea for renunciation, sounds a warning to him that he would meet the fate of the miserable monkey if he throws away what is in hand for a thing which is uncertain. : On hearing Dattasiri, Jambu become curious and asked her to relate the story of the mindless monkey to illustrate what she meant.
She, then said ;
There was a river, overflowing with water, named Bhāgirahi on one of the banks of which there was a big cane tree. On one of its branches, a couple of monkeys was sporting.
Somehow due to inadvertence, the male monkey fell down in the river and was soon transformed into a very handsome young man due to the magical virtue of the river's waters.
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