In the rainy season, he with five hundreds disciples arrived at Varanasi and was welcomed by the king of Varanasi. The king offered the hermit master and his disciples to be in the royal garden.

At the end of rainy season, the hermit bid farewell to the king. The king asked “My noble, you’re old. It’s not good for you to be in Himmapan forest. You should send your disciples to Himmapan forest and stay here.”

The hermit master accepted and sent all his disciples to Himmapan forest and he was stay in the royal garden.

Among the five hundred disciples, there was one leader. He had ever been a king before becoming a hermit and he also succeeded the highest level of meditation.

The leader wanted to see his master, he said to all disciples “I’ll go to see the master. Don’t be annoyed. Please be here. I’ll come back when I had seen the master.” Then, he left Himmapan forest and headed for the royal garden. After he had met the hermit master, the leader laid himself in the hermit master’s place.

The king thought that he should go to see the hermit master, so he went to the royal garden and paid respect to the hermit master.

Although the leader saw the king, the leader didn’t stand up and greet the king. The leader still laid down and exclaimed “So happy, So happy !”

The king felt neglected so he said to the hermit master “This hermit must be full of food so he didn’t stand up.”

“My majesty, this hermit had ever been a king like you.  He thought that when he was the king he still had not much happiness like this,” the hermit master explained, “One who looks after no one and be looked after by no one usually be happy.”

The king was glad with the hermit master’s words. He bid farewell to the hermit master and went back to his place.

The leader finally reincarnated as Pattiyadera, a Buddhist saint. The hermit master finally reincarnated as the Buddha.

The wood cutter feel that her womb is full and heavy so she told the king “My majesty, I’ve got pregnant.”

The king gave her a ring and said “If the baby was a girl, sell this ring. If the baby was a boy, come to my palace with this ring.”  and then went away.

The wood cutter finally had a baby boy but did not go to see the king.

One day, the boy asked her “Mommy, who is my father ?”

“My son, you’re a son of the king Varanasi” The wood cutter replied.

“You have an evidence or witness, right ?” The boy was curious.

“Yes, the king had given this ring and told me that if the child was a girl, I should sell this ring; if the child was a boy, bring the boy with the ring to see him.” The wood cutter explained.

“So why don’t you bring me to my father’s palace ?” The boy asked.

The wood cutter realized that she should bring her son to see his father. She went to the palace and told the royal guard to report this to the king. The king allowed the wood cutter and her son to meet him.

In the throne hall, the wood cutter said to the king “My majesty, as you may already know, this boy is your son.”

With shame, the king denied “No, he is not my son.”

The wood cutter brought up the ring and said “My majesty, this is your ring. You may remember this ring.”

“Even this ring is not mine” The king denied again.

[To be continue ...]

Mahissasa then longly explained many aspects of shame of sins.

After the explanation had ended, the water demon offered “Look, noble man. I’m admired you. I I’ll release one of your brother. Please choose which one you want.”

“So please give me my youngest brother.” Mahissasa said.

“Look, noble man. You only know Deva Dharma. You don’t follow it.”

“Why ?”

“Choosing the youngest brother means that you don’t care about the most civilized people.” The water demon replied.

“Look, water demon, I know and has followed Deva Dharma.” Mahissasa explained, “Mother of my youngest brother asked our father for the throne but our father don’t allow. For our safety, our father let us leave the country but my youngest brother followed us. If I said that water demon has eaten my youngest brother, no one would believe. I’m afraid of critic, so I choose my youngest brother.”

“That’s actually good, noble man.” The water demon said, “You know Deva Dharma and follow it.” and then released all two brothers.

Mahissasa said to water demon “My friend, you was born as an ogre, eat flesh and blood of others as food. The people was eaten because they had committed sins in their previous life. Why do you still commit such sins ? Sins won’t let you get away from hell. From now on, you should stop committing sins and make good merit.”

At last, three boys and one water demon lived together in the forest for some period.

One day, Mahissasa knew that his father had passed away. Mahissasa, Chanta, Suriya and the water demon went back to Varanasi. They seized the throne and ruled the country with virtues.

The water demon finally reincarnated as the new monk who had many robes and clothes. Suriya finally reincarnated as Anon, a famous high priest. Chanta finally reincarnated as Saribudra, another famous high priest. Mahissasa finally reincarnated as the Buddha.

However, the king was so stingy. He thought “If this appraiser still does his work, the royal asset will be exhausted. I’ll look for another man to do this job instead.” and then he looked around the palace court and found a villager. The king ordered his courtier to called the villager.

When the villager arrived, the king asked “Will you be my royal appraiser ?”

That man replied “Yes, sir.”

Then, the king appointed that man as a new royal appraiser.

From that day, the new royal appraiser appraised things haphazardly. But because of his position, his word is a final price.

One day, a merchant brought five hundred horses to the palace. The new royal appraiser estimated all horses at one liter of rice. Then he gave a merchant one liter of rice and brought all horses to the royal stable.

The merchant didn’t know what to do. He went to the old royal appraiser and asked what he should do. The old royal appriaser told the merchant to bribe the new royal appraiser to estimate the value of one liter of rice as agreed.

After that, the merchant, the old royal appraiser, along with the new royal appraiser, went to the throne hall. The king and many courtiers are already there.

The merchant asked the king “My majesty, I heard that five hundreds horses  worth at one liter of rice. But how much one liter of rice worth ?”

The king said to the new royal appraiser “My appraiser, how much five hundreds horses worth ?”

The new royal appraiser replied “They worth one liter of rice, sir.”

The king continued asking “Okay, all horses worth one liter of rice, so how much one liter of rice worth ?”

The new royal appraiser replied “It worth Varanasi, sir.”

The old royal appraiser said “How much one liter of rice worth ? How much Varanasi worth ? One liter of rice is equal to five hundreds horses ?”

Courtiers laughed and said “We thought that Varanasi is priceless. We just know that Varanasi, with the throne and a big beautiful palace worth only one liter of rice. You are the most suitable appraiser for our king.”

With shame, the king fired the new royal appraiser and gave the old royal appraiser his position back.

The old royal appraiser finally reincarnated as the Buddha. The new royal appraiser finally reincarnated as a stupid monk who made chaos between monks.

One day, while he was going to see the king, he found a dead mouse on the street. He calculated and said “The man who has eyes of wisdom may take this dead mouse for a living”

A poor main accidentally heard the millionaire’s words. He thought that unless the millionaire knew, the millionaire wouldn’t say. So, the poor man took the dead mouse and sold it for being a cat food. He gained a very little money and then used that money to buy some of cane juice.

After that, he saw some flower pickers coming back from the forest. He served each of them some amount of cane juice. Each of flower picker gave a poor man a bunch of flowers in return. The poor man sold those flowers and gained some money.

On the next morning, he use that money to buy cane juice and drinking water and then went to the flower garden to serve them to the flower pickers. The flower pickers gave him a lot of flowers. He could make eight coins with this trick.

One day, it was a rainy and stormy day. A lot of branches and leaves were dropped on the ground in the royal garden. The garden keeper couldn’t find a way to trash them out.

The poor man went into the royal garden and offered to the garden keeper “If you give me those branches and leaves, I’ll bring all of them out of the garden.”

“Please bring them out, man.” The garden keeper replied.

The poor man went to the playground. He served cane juice to all children and asked them to bring all branches and leaves, and then piled them up in front of the royal garden.

There was a royal craftsman finding for firewood to burn clay pots. He found branches and leaves in front of the royal garden; so he bought them from the poor man. At that time, the poor man had sixteen coins and some of pots.

After that, he bought a big jar and stood it near the city gate. He filled it with drinking water to serve five hundred grass carriers.

The grass carriers said “Your generosity helped us much, what can we do for you in return ?”

“I’ll told you when I need your help.” The poor man replied.

The poor had made friends with many people. He made friends with workers both onshore and offshore.

One day, an onshore worker told him that a merchant with five hundred horses would arrived at the town on the next day.

The poor man said to grass carriers, “Today, each of you just give me a bunch of grass and don’t sell your grass unless I sold them out.”

The grass carriers accepted and then brought five hundred bunches of grass and laid them in front of the poor man’s house.

When the merchant arrived, he can’t find any grass except from the poor man, so he bought grasses from the poor man with a hundred thousands coins.

After a few days, an offshore worker told the poor man that a big ship had docked at the port. The poor man rented a car with many followers, looks like a great merchant, and went to the port. He gave a ring to the ship’s sailor as deposit and told him that if other merchant come to the port, he must tell them that the great merchant had deposited all merchandises.

When other merchants went to the port, the ship sailor said as the poor man told. So, each of one hundred merchants bought shares from the poor man with one thousands coins and gave another one thousands coins for buying merchandises. The poor man, who was not poor at that time, went back to the town.

The poor man realized that he could made a lot of money because of the wise millionaire. Then, he brought a hundred thousands coins and offered them to the millionaire.

The millionaire asked “How could you make such a lot of money ?”

The poor man said “I did as you said so I can make a lot of money in four months,” and told all the stories.

The millionaire was impressed so much. He offered his daughter as the poor man’s wife. When the millionaire passed away, the poor man became a new millionaire.

The wise millionaire finally reincarnated as the Buddha. The poor man finally reincarnated as a monk.