Note 23 — Chapter LX

But Dushṭabuddhi told the whole matter to his father, and secretly giving him money, said; “Hide in the trunk of the tree and be my witness.” His father consented, so he took him and placed him at night in the capacious trunk of the tree, and returned home. And in the morning those two brothers went with the king’s officers, and asked the tree, who took away those dínárs. And their father, who was hidden in the trunk of the tree, replied in a loud clear voice: “Dharmabuddhi took away the dínárs.” When the king’s officers heard this surprising utterance, they said; “Surely Dushṭabuddhi must have hidden some one in the trunk.” So they introduced smoke into the trunk of the tree, which fumigated the father of Dushṭabuddhi so, that he fell out of the trunk on to the ground, and died. When the king’s officers saw this, they understood the whole matter, and they compelled Dushṭabuddhi to give up the dínárs to Dharmabuddhi. And so they cut off the hands and cut out the tongue of Dushṭabuddhi, and banished him, and they honoured Dharmabuddhi as a man who deserved his name.23