Vessantara-Jataka in Pali and English - MyWebSpace

Translation 522 Vessantara-Jåtaka
[Fausbøll, Jåtaka, vol. VI, p. 522]
A hateful thing your life must be, as youthful as you are,
With an old husband to be wed; nay, death were better far.
It surely seems, my pretty one, your parents were unkind
If for a fine young girl they could no other husband find.
Your fire-oblation, and your ninth 1 were offered all for naught
If by an old decrepit man so young a wife was caught.
Some brahmin or ascetic once no doubt you have reviled,
Some virtuous or learned man, some hermit undefiled,
If by an old decrepit man so young a wife was caught.
Painful a spear-thrust, full of pain the serpent's fiery bite:
But a decrepit husband is more painful to the sight.
With an old husband there can be no joy and no delight,
No pleasant talk: his very laugh is ugly to the sight.
When men and maidens, youth with youth, hold intercourse apart
They make an end of all the woes that harbour in the heart.
You are a girl whom men desire, you're young and you are fair:
How can an old man give you joy? Go home and tarry there!"
When she heard their mockery, she went home with her waterpot, weeping. "Why are
you weeping?" the husband asked; and she replied in this stanza:
1
A sacrifice nine days after birth? [Or possibly "praise", from the root nu? Cf. naviya,
"praiseworthy". -- jrb]