Note 3 — Chapter LIII

And when the sixth year had come, king Lakshadatta happened to see him one day, and feeling pity for him, reflected—“Though he has been long afflicted, I have not as yet given him anything, so why should I not give him something in a disguised form, and so find out whether the guilt of this poor man has been effaced, or not, and whether even now Fortune will grant him a sight of her, or not.” Thus reflecting, the king deliberately entered his treasury, and filled a citron with jewels, as if it were a casket. And he held an assembly of all his subjects, having appointed a meeting outside his palace, and there entered the assembly all his citizens, chiefs, and ministers. And when the dependent entered among them, the king said to him with an affectionate voice, “Come here;” then the dependent, on hearing this, was delighted, and coming near, he sat in front of the king. Then the king said to him—“Utter some composition of your own.” Then the dependent recited the following Áryá verse—“Fortune ever replenishes the full man, as all the streams replenish the sea, but she never even comes within the range of the eyes of the poor.” When the king had heard this, and had made him recite it again, he was pleased, and gave him the citron full of valuable jewels. And the people said, “This king puts a stop to the poverty of every one with whom he is pleased; so this dependent is to be pitied, since this very king, though pleased with him, after summoning him politely, has given him nothing but this citron; a wishing-tree, in the case of ill-starred men, often becomes a paláśa-tree.”3 These were the words which all in the assembly said to one another in their despondency, when they saw that, for they did not know the truth.