Tibetan tales (derived from Indian sources)
by W. R. S. Ralston | 1906 | 134,175 words
This page related the story of “the gazelle and the hunter” from those tibetan tales (derived from Indian sources) found in the Kah-gyur (Kangyur or Kanjur). This represents part of the sacred Tibetan canon of Buddhist literature. Many of such stories correspond to similar legends found in the West, or even those found in Polynesia.
Chapter 41 - The Gazelle and the Hunter
[Source: Kah-gyur, iv. ff. 244*-245*.]
In long-past times, when the Bodisat was in a state of indefinite merit-aggregation, he was the prince of a band of five hundred gazelles. Now a hunter had prepared a great many traps, nets, and springs, for the purpose of catching gazelles. As the gazelle prince carelessly enjoyed life, wandering about the forest with a troop of five hundred gazelles, he was caught in a net one day while heading the troop of gazelles. When the other gazelles saw him caught in the net, they all fled away, except one doe which remained beside the prince. Although the gazelle prince struggled hard, he was not able to tear the net. When the doe saw that, as she ran to and fro, she said, “As the hunter has prepared this net, exert thyself, O blessed one, exert thyself, O head of the gazelles.”
He replied, “Although I press my hoofs firmly against the ground, yet as the net which binds me is strong, and my feet are sorely wounded, I cannot tear the net. What then is to be done?”
Presently came the hunter towards that spot, dressed in brown clothes and bearing a bow and arrows. The doe saw the hunter draw nigh in order to kill the gazelle prince. Having seen him, she hurriedly exclaimed in verse—
“As this is the hunter who prepared this net, exert thyself, O highly blessed gazelle prince, exert thyself.”
He replied, also in verse—
“Although I set my hoofs hard against the ground, yet as the net which binds me is strong, and my feet are sorely wounded, I am not able to tear the net. What, then, is to be done?”
Then the doe approached the hunter with courageous heart, and coming up to him uttered this śloka—
“O hunter, draw thy sword and first kill me, and then kill the gazelle prince.”
When the hunter asked her with astonishment what she had to do with the gazelle prince, she replied, “He is my husband.” The hunter replied in a verse—
“I will kill neither thee nor the gazelle prince. Thou shalt keep company with thy beloved spouse.”
She answered, likewise in a verse—
“As I, O hunter, take pleasure in my dear spouse, so mayst thou, O hunter, enjoy thyself with all that belongs to thee.”
The hunter, whose astonishment became still greater, went away together with the gazelles, whom he left at liberty.