Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c8.s1.t5.37

c8.s1.t5.37

From similes to fable and romance is not a long way; the Buddhist mendicant monks were sufficiently Indian to have an abundant share of the old Indian delight in romance. Sometimes the sacred writings make Buddha tell his disciples a fable of animals, sometimes a history of strange occurrences, and all kinds of human actions, thoughtful or amusing: "There were once two wise brothers," or "there was once at Benares a king, called Brahmadatta," the history of the banished king Long-grief, and his sagacious son Long-life, or the fable, how the partridge, the ape, and the elephant have learned to live together in virtue and harmony; at the end of every history came, as is fitting, a moral.*