________________ 334 Homage to Vaisalt said, "Those who are saved are as the grains of earth on my nail; those not saved like the grains of the whole earth; but after three months I shall die." Mara hearing it, was rejoiced and departed. Meantime Ananda in the wood suddenly had a strange dream, and coming to Buddha he told it to him saying, "I was in the wood, when I beheld in my dream a large tree, whose branches and leaves in their luxuriance cast a grateful shade beneath, when suddenly a mighty wind arose which destroyed and scattered the tree and its branches without leaving a mark behind. Oh, forbid it that the lord is going to die ! My heart is sad and worn, therefore I have come to ask you if it be so or not ?" Buddha answered Ananda, "I asked you before, and Mara so fascinated you that you did not then ask me to remain in the world. Mara-raja has urged me to die soon, and I have covenanted to do so, and fixed the time. This is the meaning of your dream." Not far from this spot is a stupa. This is the spot where the thousand sons beheld their father and their mother. Formerly there was a Rishi who lived a secret life amid the crags and valleys. In the second month of spring he had been bathing himself in a pure stream of water. A roedeer which came to drink there just after, conceived and brought forth a female child, very beautiful beyond human measure, but she had the feet of a deer. The Rishi having seen it, adopted and cherished it (as his child). As time went on, on one occasion he ordered her to go and seek some fire. In so doing she came to the but of another Rishi; but wherever her feet trod there she left the impression of a lotus-flower on the ground. The other Rishi having seen this, was very much surprised and bade her walk round his hut and he would give her some fire. Having done so and got the fire, she returned. At this time Fan-Yu-Wang (Brahmadattaraja) going out on a short excursion, saw the lotus-flower traces, and followed them to seek (the cause). Admiring her strange and wonderful appearance, he took her back in his carriage. The soothsayers casting her fortune said, "She will bear a thousand sons." Hearing this, the other women did nothing but scheme against her. Her time having been accomplished, she brought forth a lotus flower of a thousand leaves, and on each leaf was seated a boy. The other women slandered her on its account, and saying it was "an unlucky omen", threw (the lotus) into the Ganges, and it was carried away by the current. The king of Ujiyan (U-shi-yen), down the stream, going out for ap excursion observed a yellow-cloud-covered box floating on the water and
