Vessantara-Jataka in Pali and English - MyWebSpace

Translation 577 Vessantara-Jåtaka
[Fausbøll, Jåtaka, vol. VI, p. 577]
Come tell me truly as it is,—I will the brahmin pay—
What price your father set on you when he gave you away?"
The lad replied:
"A thousand pieces was my price: to set my sister free,
Of elephants and all the rest 1 a hundred each fixed he."
The king bade pay the price for the children.
"Up, bailiff, pay the brahmin quick, and let the price be told:
A hundred male and female slaves, and cattle from the fold,
A hundred elephants and bulls, a thousand pounds in gold.'
The bailiff paid the brahmin quick, at once the price was told:
A hundred male and female slaves, and cattle from the fold,
A hundred bulls and elephants, a thousand pounds in gold."
Thereto he gave him a seven-storeyed palace; great was the brahmin's pomp! He put
away all his treasure, and went up into his palace, and lay down on his fine couch, eating
choice meats.
The children were then washed and fed and drest; the grandfather took one on his hip, the
grandmother took the other. To explain this, the Master said:
"The children bought, well washt and drest, richly adorned, and fed,
1 Reading hatthinādisatena with B d . This must be the sense, but the reading is uncertain.