經律異相 21.19

21.19

Long ago in the past, there was a young brāhmaṇa (māṇava; in the Liang language, a 'hermit-sage') in a mountain cave reciting kṣatriya texts. There was a wild fox that went to his side, listened intently to his recitation, and understood something in its mind. It had this thought: 'Since I understand the words of this book, I am fit to be the king among beasts.' It then arose and roamed about. Meeting an emaciated wild fox, it wished to kill it. The other said, 'Why kill me?' It replied, 'I am the king of beasts. You do not submit to me.' The other said, 'Please do not kill me; I will follow you.' Thereupon the two foxes roamed together. Meeting another fox, the exchange went as above. In this manner it progressively subdued all the foxes, then used the pack of foxes to subdue all the elephants, used the herd of elephants to subdue all the tigers, and used the pack of tigers to subdue all the lions. Thus it opportunistically became the king among beasts. It then had this thought: 'As I am the king of beasts, I should not take a beast for my wife.' It then mounted a white elephant and made the beasts surround the kingdom of Kāśī hundreds of thousands of times. The king sent an envoy to inquire, 'Why do you do this?' The wild fox replied, 'I am the king of beasts. I should marry your daughter. If you do not give her to me, I will destroy your kingdom.' The envoy returned and reported to the king. The king assembled his ministers to deliberate; except for one minister, all said she should be given: 'What the kingdom relies on is only elephants and horses. We have elephants and horses, while they have lions. When our elephants and horses catch their scent, they fall to the ground in terror. In battle we will certainly be no match. Why begrudge one girl and lose an entire kingdom?' At that time, a minister of keen intellect and farsighted strategy addressed the king, saying, 'In reviewing past and present, I have never heard of or seen a human king's daughter given to a lowly beast. Though I am weak and unenlightened, I will surely kill this fox and cause the beasts to scatter and flee.' The king then questioned him, and the minister replied, 'Your Majesty need only send an envoy to fix a date for battle, and ask one request of him: make the lions fight first and roar later. Thinking we are afraid, he will certainly make the lions roar first and fight later. When the day of battle arrives, Your Majesty should order all within the city to plug their ears.' The king followed his words and then marched the army out. When the battle formations were about to engage, the wild fox indeed ordered the lions to roar first. Hearing it, the wild fox's heart split into seven pieces, and it fell from the elephant to the ground. The beasts scattered and fled. The Buddha spoke a verse: