Note 7 — Chapter LXV

Then the Bodhisattva, terrified at being put in prison, thought upon the snake, who was an incarnation of the hermit’s son, and the snake came to him. And when the snake had seen him, and enquired what his need was, he said to the good man, “I will go and coil round the king from his head to his feet.7 And I will not let him go until I am told to do so by you. And you must say here, in the prison, ‘I will deliver the king from the serpent.’ And when you come and give me the order, I will let the king go. And when I let him go, he will give you half his kingdom.” After he had said this, the snake went and coiled round the king, and placed his three hoods on his head. And the people began to cry out, “Alas! the king is bitten by a snake.” Then the Bodhisattva said, “I will deliver the king from this snake.” And the king’s servants, having heard this, informed him. Thereupon the king, who was in the grasp of the snake, had the Bodhisattva summoned, and said to him, “If you deliver me from this snake, I will give you half my kingdom, and these my ministers are your guarantees that I will keep my promise.” When his ministers heard this, they said,—“Certainly,” and then the Bodhisattva said to that snake, “Let the king go at once.” Then the snake let the king go, and the king gave half his kingdom to that Bodhisattva, and thus he became prosperous in a moment. And the serpent, as its curse was at an end, became a young hermit, and he told his story in the presence of the court and went back to his hermitage.