Tibetan tales (derived from Indian sources)
by W. R. S. Ralston | 1906 | 134,175 words
This page related the story of “the jackal in the elephant’s footprints” 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 38 - The Jackal in the Elephant’s footprints
[Source: Kah-gyur, iv. f. 222.]
AN elephant came long ago to the Himalayas to drink water. In its track followed a jackal, which saw the elephant’s footprints, and began to measure its own stride with them.
“These footprints are mine,” it said to itself.
Then springing forwards it set its foot in one of the footprints, and tripped over a broken piece of wood.[1]
A deity uttered this verse—
“In a word, O fool, thy footprints and those of the elephant are not alike. Give up this useless attempt. Thou wilt only derive weariness therefrom.”
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Of the Kāndakīllaka or Symplocos racemosa. See Böhtlingk-Roth.—S.