[117] 7. "Young, attended by men and women,
in the night you shine with sensual pleasures (kāmaguṇa);
by day you undergo torment.
What did you do in a former birth?"
[The peta replied:]
"In delightful Rājagaha, in lovely Giribbaja,
formerly I was a deer-hunter, bloody-handed and cruel.
With a mind of malice toward many creatures that gave no offense,
I roamed, exceedingly cruel, ever delighting in harming others, unrestrained.
I had a friend, good-hearted, a faithful lay follower (upāsaka),
and he, having compassion on me, restrained me again and again:
'Do not do an evil deed (kamma), dear one; do not go to a bad destination (duggati)!
If you desire happiness after death, refrain from the slaughter of living beings, from unrestraint.'
Having heard the words of him who desired my happiness, who compassionately sought my welfare,
I did not carry out his instruction in full —
I who was without understanding, long delighting in evil.
That man of great wisdom, out of compassion, established me once more in restraint:
'If by day you kill living beings, then by night let there be restraint for you.'
So, having killed living beings by day, by night I was abstinent, restrained.
Now by night I take my pleasure; by day I am devoured, wretched.
Through that wholesome deed, by night I enjoy superhuman [bliss];
by day the dogs, as though maddened, rush upon me from every side to devour me.
But those who are constantly devoted, steadfastly intent upon the dispensation (sāsana) of the Sublime One (Sugata) —
I deem that they attain the deathless itself, absolutely: the unconditioned state."
The Deer-Hunter Peta Story (Migaluddapetavatthu), the seventh.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.