Vessantara-Jataka in Pali and English - MyWebSpace

Translation 565 Vessantara-Jåtaka
[Fausbøll, Jåtaka, vol. VI, p. 565]
But nowhere could she see the children. Then returning to the Great Being, whom she
beheld with his face cast down, she said to him:
"The kindling wood you have not split, the fire you have not lit,
Nor brought the water as before: why do you idly sit?
When I return unto my den my toil is done away,
But Jāli and Kaṇhājinā I cannot see to-day!"
Still the Great Being sat silent; and she distrest at his silence, trembling like a wounded
fowl, went again round the places which she had searched before, and returning said:
"O husband mine, I cannot see by whom their death has come:
The very ravens do not caw, the very birds are dumb."
Still the Great Being said no word. And she, in her longing for the little ones, a third time
searched the same places quick as the wind: in one night the space which she traversed in
seeking them was fifteen leagues. Then the night gave place to dawn, and at sunrise she
came again to the Great Being, and stood before him lamenting. The Master explained it
thus:
"When she had traversed in the search each forest and each hill,
Back to her husband she returned, and stood lamenting still.