Vessantara-Jataka in Pali and English - MyWebSpace

Translation 534 Vessantara-Jåtaka
[Fausbøll, Jåtaka, vol. VI, p. 534]
The foliage of the pepper-tree in that fair spot is seen,
No dust is ever blown aloft, the grass is ever green.
The grasses like a peacock's neck, soft-cotton to the touch,
Grow never more than inches four, but always just so much.
Kapittha, mango, rose-apple, and ripe figs dangling low,
All trees whose fruit is good to eat in that fine forest grow.
There sweet and clean and fragrant streams as blue as beryl flow,
Through which disporting up and down the shoals of fishes go.
A lake lies in a lovely spot, with lilies blue and, white,
Hard by, like that which is in heaven i’ the Garden of Delight.
Three kinds of lilies in that lake present them to the sight,
With varied colours: some are blue, some blood-red, others white."
Thus he praised the foursquare lake of lilies, and went on to praise Lake Mucalinda:
"As soft as linen are the flowers, those lilies blue and white,
And other herbs grow there: the lake is Mucalinda hight.
And there in number infinite the full-blown flowers you see,
In summer and in winter both as high as to the knee.
Always the many-coloured flowers blow fragrant on the breeze,
And you may hear drawn by the scent the buzzing of the bees.