[1136] To him the Ceta made answer, a hunter ranging the forest:
"By you people, brahmin, was the khattiya harried for his exceeding generosity;
banished from his own realm, he dwells on Mount Vaṅka.
By you people, brahmin, was the khattiya harried for his exceeding generosity;
#1 M. [Burmese edition]: this verse-line (gāthāpāda) is not found.
taking his children and wife, he dwells on Mount Vaṅka.
Witless one, doer of what ought not to be done, come from the realm into the wild wood,¹
seeking the king's son as a heron seeks a fish in the water —
therefore I shall not grant you your life here, brahmin;
for this arrow, sped by me, shall drink² your blood.
Having struck off your head and cut out your heart with all that binds it,
I shall offer the wayside-bird sacrifice (panthasakuṇa) with your flesh, brahmin.
With your flesh, with your fat, and with your head, brahmin,
having cut out your heart, I shall lift up the oblation (āhuti).
That, with your flesh, brahmin, will be for me well sacrificed, well offered;
and you shall not carry off the wife and children of the king's son."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.