[1182] "These little feet of ours are in pain (dukkhā), and long is the road, most hard to travel;
while the sun hangs low, the brahmin drives us on.
We cry out to the spirits (bhūta), to the mountains and the forests;
with our heads we bow in homage to the lake and to the streams with their good fords.
O grasses and creepers, O herbs, O mountains and forests,
tell our mother that we are well: this brahmin is leading us away.
And may you, good sirs, speak to our mother, to Maddī, the mother of us both:
if she wishes to follow after, let her follow after us quickly.
This single footpath leads here; it goes straight to the hermitage;
follow that very path — then you may see us soon.
Ah, alas! O lady of matted hair, gatherer of forest roots and fruits,
when you see the hermitage empty, that will be suffering for you.
Too long, surely, has mother gleaned, and gained no small store —
she who does not know that we are bound by the brahmin hunting wealth,
by that harsh and cruel man who beats us like cattle.
Oh, that today we might see mother, come back at evening from her gleaning!
Mother would give the brahmin fruit mixed with honey;
then he, hungry as he is, having eaten, would not drive us on so hard.
Swollen indeed are our feet, yet the brahmin drives us on hard."
Thus there the children, yearning for their mother, lamented.
This is called the Dārakapabba (the Chapter on the Children).
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.