[96] 11.
"In front one rides forth upon a white elephant;
in the middle, in a chariot drawn by mules;
and behind, a maiden goes forth in a palanquin,
illumining the ten directions on every side.
But you—with mallets gripped in your hands,
with weeping faces, your bodies broken and battered—
what evil did you do when you were human beings,
that you drink one another's blood?"
"He who goes right in front upon the tusker,
the white nāga-elephant with its four-footed gait—
he was our son, the firstborn;
having given gifts, he rejoices in happiness.
He who is in the middle, in the chariot drawn by mules,
yoked with a team of four, running smoothly along—
he was our son, the middle one;
unstinting, a master of giving (dānapati), he shines forth.
She who goes forth behind in a palanquin—
a woman of wisdom, with the gentle eyes of a doe—
she was our daughter, the youngest;
through a half share of a share she rejoices in happiness.
These in former times gave gifts
to ascetics and brahmins with confident minds (pasannacittā);
but we were misers,
revilers of ascetics and brahmins.
These, having given, now amuse themselves,
while we wither away like a reed set ablaze."
"What is your food? What is your bed?
And how do you subsist, you of so evil a nature,
when, amid abundant possessions, not a few,
happiness has faded away and today you have come to suffering (dukkha)?"
"Having struck one another,
we drink the pus and blood;
though we have drunk much, we are not sated,
nor do we find any satisfaction.
Even so do mortals lament—
givers of nothing, who after death abide in Yama's realm—
they who, having found and acquired possessions,
neither enjoy them nor make merit.
Overtaken by hunger and thirst in the world beyond,
they afterwards burn for a long time, being consumed;
having done deeds whose yield is suffering,
deeds of bitter fruit, they experience suffering.
For fleeting are wealth and grain,
and fleeting is life here;
knowing the fleeting as fleeting,
the wise man should make himself an island.
Those people who understand this,
proficient in the Dhamma,
are not heedless in giving,
having heard the word of the arahants."
The Story of the Nāga Petas (Nāgapetavatthu), the eleventh.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.