[125] "This great sugarcane grove of mine has arisen,
no small fruit of merit (puñña);
yet now it does not come to my enjoyment.
Tell me, venerable sir: of what is this the result (vipāka)?
I am harassed and I am devoured; I strive
and I struggle to enjoy even a little;
broken in my very self, wretched, I keep lamenting:
of what deed (kamma) is this the result?
Distressed, I fall down upon the ground;
I writhe about like a fish in the heat;
and from afar my tears trickle down.
Tell me, venerable sir: of what is this the result?
Hungry, exhausted, and thirsty,
trembling, I find no pleasant happiness.
I ask you this matter, venerable sir:
how, pray, may I obtain the enjoyment of the sugarcane?"
[The Elder Mahāmoggallāna:]
"In the past you yourself did a deed
when you were a human being in a former birth (jāti);
and I shall tell you this matter —
when you have heard it, understand this matter.
You had set out chewing sugarcane,
and a man followed along behind you;
hoping for some, he spoke to you,
but you said nothing at all to him.
And as you did not speak, he begged you,
saying to you, 'Please give me some sugarcane';
you gave him the sugarcane from behind your back:
this is the result of that very deed.
Come now, go and take it from behind;
having taken it, eat as much as you wish;
by that very means you will be pleased in mind —
glad, elated, and rejoicing."
Having gone, he took it from behind;
having taken it, he ate as much as he wished;
by that very means he became pleased in mind —
glad, elated, and rejoicing.
The Story of the Sugarcane Peta (Ucchupetavatthu), the fifth.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.