ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 11.16

11.16

“She related the story to them in detail, and they said, ‘This did not happen the way you say it did.’ Out of resentment they thought, ‘She has committed a crime,’ and kicked her out of the house.

“So she left Vārāṇasī and set out for her father’s house, and in time she came to a mountain village. When she arrived she stopped there on the main road, and that evening she gave birth to the child. The birth pains were unbearable, and she lost consciousness.

“A certain householder lived nearby, and in his house there was a dog named Bhūta. The dog went out onto the road and saw the baby, and while the woman was still unconscious, he took up the baby in his teeth and returned with it to the house. The householder saw that the baby was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful, and immediately thought, ‘It’s okay for someone who doesn’t have children to make someone else’s child his own. Since I have neither son nor daughter, I can take this baby and raise it, and it will be as if it were my own.’

“With this in mind he said to his wife, ‘Sweet one, you know it’s okay for someone who doesn’t have children to make someone else’s child his own. Since we have neither son nor daughter, we can take this baby and raise it, and it will be as if it were our own. Here, take him in your lap. I will prepare an elaborate feast to celebrate his birth.’ So the woman put the baby on her lap and there it stayed. The householder beat his drum and prepared a feast to celebrate the baby’s birth.

“Earlier that morning, when her pain had subsided, the mother had woken up and thought, ‘I will pick up my baby,’ but the baby was nowhere to be found. At dawn, she began asking everyone who lived nearby, ‘Has anyone seen a baby?’ Those who had seen it said to her, ‘The householder so-and-so has a dog named Bhūta that carried your baby back to their house.’ The mother implored another woman, ‘Please! Go to that house and see if my baby is still alive!’