[1092] The great king, fosterer of the realm of the Sivis, addressed her:
"Pray, Maddī, mark well the things in the forest that are hard to endure.
Many are the insects and grasshoppers, the mosquitoes and honey-bees;
these too would molest you there — that for you would be suffering more grievous still.
Behold other terrors, haunting the rivers:
the serpents called pythons — venomless they are, yet of great strength;
a man, or even a beast, that has but come near them
they encircle with their coils and bring into their own power.
There are others besides — black, shaggy-haired fierce beasts called bears:
a man once seen by them escapes not, though he climb a tree.
Clashing their sharp-pointed horns, ready to strike,
buffaloes range about here, along the river Sotumbara.
When you have seen the herds of deer and the cattle roving in the forest,
you, like a milch-cow yearning for her calf — what will you do, Maddī?
When you have seen the dreadful apes thronging upon the rough tracks,
great terror will come upon you, Maddī, who know not the terrain.
You who, on hearing a jackal, would start with fright again and again while in the city —
when you have come to Vaṅka, what will you do, Maddī?
When the hour stands at midday and the birds have settled to rest,
the vast forest as it were roars aloud — why do you wish to go there?"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.