[1156] And there are birds there, blue-hued ones (nīlakā), sweet of speech;
they delight together with their mates, calling out one to another.
And there are birds there, twice-born ones (dijā), sweet-voiced and dark,
with white-rimmed eyes and lovely gaze, egg-born, with brightly variegated plumes.
And there are birds there, twice-born ones, sweet-voiced and dark:
crested peacocks (sikhaṇḍī) who with their blue-necked mates call out one to another.
Wild fowl (kukkuṭṭhaka), kuḷīraka birds, koṭṭha birds, pokkharasātaka water-birds,
kāḷaveyya birds, balīyakkha birds, gray geese (kadamba), parrots and mynahs;
yellow ones, crimson ones, white ones — and there too are many reed-birds (naḷaka),
elephant-birds (vāraṇa) and racket-tailed drongos (bhiṅgarāja), gray geese, parrots and koels.
Ospreys (ukkusa), sea-eagles (kurara), swans (haṃsa), āṭa water-birds, parivadentikā birds,
mighty cāka-swans, water-cocks (najjuha), and jīvajīvaka pheasants;
pigeons (pārevata), sun-swans (ravihaṃsa), ruddy shelducks (cākavāka), farers of the rivers,
and elephant-birds delightful in their cries — all calling out at both times of day.
And there are birds there, many twice-born of various hues;
they delight together with their mates, calling out one to another.
And there are birds there, many twice-born of various hues;
all of them warble sweetly on either side of Lake Mucalinda.
And there are birds there, the twice-born called karavīka;
they delight together with their mates, calling out one to another.
And there are birds there, the twice-born called karavīka;
all of them warble sweetly on either side of Lake Mucalinda.
The forest is thronged with black antelope (eṇeyya) and spotted deer (pasada), frequented by elephants (nāga),
overspread with creepers of many kinds, and haunted by kadalī-deer.
And there sāmā millet abounds; wild rice (nīvāra) and varaka grain are plentiful;
there is sāli rice that ripens on untilled ground, and sugar-cane there in no small measure.
This single footpath leads on; it goes straight to the hermitage;
one who has reached that place finds neither hunger nor thirst nor discontent —
there where King Vessantara dwells together with his children,
wearing the guise of a brahmin, with the fruit-hook (āsada), the ladle (camasa), and matted hair,
clad in hides, he lies upon the earth and venerates the fire, Jātaveda.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.