[2166] "Let the gatekeepers come, girt with swords;
let the ochre-robed (kāsāviyā) go into the inner palace;
and having slain that Prince Somanassa there,
let them cut off his noble head and bring it."
The messengers sent by the king said this to the prince:
"You have been given up by the sovereign; you have incurred death, O warrior-prince (khattiya)."
That king's son, lamenting,
raising his joined palms with all ten fingers, [pleaded]:
"I too wish to see the lord of the people (janinda);
lead me there alive and present me before him."
Having heard that word of his, they presented the son to the king;
and the son, on seeing his father, addressed him from afar:
"The gatekeepers girt with swords, the ochre-robed,
have come to slay me, O lord of the people.
Being asked, declare this matter to me:
what offense of mine is there here today?"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.