[296] Thus it is told, thus it is handed down by report: Upon that upbearer of the earth [the mountain] rich in every healing herb, overspread with flowers and fragrant garlands of many kinds; ranged over by elephants, gayals, buffaloes, ruru deer, yaks, spotted deer (pasada), rhinoceroses, gokaṇṇa elk, lions, tigers, leopards, bears, wolves, hyenas, otters, kadalī deer, wild cats, hares, and kaṇṇikā beasts; its gentle glades thronged with the great boars, the families of elephants, and the herds of cow-elephants that dwell there; haunted by issa deer, monkeys, sarabha deer, eṇi antelope, wind-deer, and spotted deer, by purisālu, by kiṃpurisas, yakkhas, and rakkhasas; overspread with countless companies of trees bearing tender flower-sprays, their crests bright with full-blown blossom; resounding with hundreds of exultant birds — ospreys (kurura), cakora partridges, vāraṇa birds, peacocks, parābhūta birds, jīvajīvaka pheasants, celāvaka birds, (balāka herons,) bhiṅkāra birds, and karavīka cuckoos; its tracts inlaid and adorned with hundreds of mineral ores — antimony (añjana), realgar (manosilā), orpiment (haritāla), vermilion (hiṅgulaka), gold (hema), silver, and native gold (kanaka) — in a delightful forest grove of such a kind, sirs, it is said, there dwells a bird named Kuṇāla, exceedingly variegated in beauty, the covering of his feathers exceedingly variegated. Now this bird Kuṇāla, sirs, has as his attendants three and a half thousand females, bird-maidens (dijakaññā). Then, sirs, two bird-maidens, gripping a stick in their beaks, seat the bird Kuṇāla in the middle of it and fly up with him, thinking, "Let not weariness oppress the bird Kuṇāla on the stretch of the long road." Five hundred bird-maidens fly along beneath, thinking, "If this bird Kuṇāla should fall from his perch, we shall catch him with our wings." Five hundred bird-maidens fly along above, thinking, "Let not the sun's heat scorch the bird Kuṇāla." Five hundred bird-maidens on either side fly along both flanks, thinking, "Let not cold or heat, grass or dust, wind or dew touch the bird Kuṇāla." Five hundred bird-maidens fly on ahead, thinking, "Let not cowherds or keepers of livestock, grass-cutters or gatherers of wood or workers in the forest deal the bird Kuṇāla a blow with stick or potsherd, with the hand (or with a rock), with clod or cudgel or blade or gravel; and let not this bird Kuṇāla clash with bushes or creepers, with trees or branches, with posts or rocks, or with birds of greater strength." Five hundred bird-maidens fly along behind, addressing him with speech gentle, kindly, charming, and sweet, thinking, "Let not this bird Kuṇāla grow disconsolate upon his perch." Five hundred bird-maidens fly off to this quarter and to that, bringing back fruits of various sorts from trees of many kinds, thinking, "Let not this bird Kuṇāla be wearied by hunger." And then, sirs, it is said, those bird-maidens swiftly bear that bird Kuṇāla from pleasure-grove straight to pleasure-grove, from park to park, from river-ford to river-ford, from mountain peak to mountain peak, from mango grove to mango grove, from rose-apple grove to rose-apple grove, from breadfruit grove to breadfruit grove, from coconut walk to coconut walk, for his delight. And then, sirs, the bird Kuṇāla, though ministered to by those bird-maidens all the day, reviles them thus: "Perish, you vile women! Be destroyed, you vile women! Thieves! Rogues! Heedless, fickle-minded creatures, making no return for what is done for you, going wherever you please, like the wind!"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.