le alms were given;
whatever he received, costly or poor, he placed within his bowl, then
turned back to the wood, and having eaten it and drunk of the flowing
stream, he joyous sat upon the immaculate mountain. There he beheld the
green trees fringing with their shade the crags, the scented flowers
growing between the intervals, whilst the peacocks and the other birds,
joyously flying, mingled their notes; his sacred garments bright and
lustrous, shone as the sun-lit mulberry leaves; the messengers beholding
his fixed composure, one by one returning, reported what they had seen;
the king hearing it, was moved at heart, and forthwith ordered his royal
equipment to be brought, his god-like crown and his flower-bespangled
robes; then, as the lion-king, he strode forth, and choosing certain
aged persons of consideration, learned men, able calmly and wisely to
discriminate, he, with them, led the way, followed by a hundred thousand
people, who like a cloud ascended with the king the royal mountain.

And now beholding the dignity of Bodhisattva, every outward gesture
under government, sitting with ease upon the mountain crag, as the moon
shining limpid in the pure heavens, so was his matchless beauty and
purity of grace; then as the converting presence of religion dwelling
within the heart makes it reverential, so, beholding him, he reverently
approached, even as divine Sakara comes to the presence of Mo-hi-su-ma,
so with every outward form of courtesy and reverence the king approached
and asked him respectfully of his welfare.

Bodhisattva, answering as he was moved, in his turn made similar
inquiries. Then the king, the questioning over, sat down with dignity
upon a clean-faced rock. And so he steadfastly beheld the divine
appearance of the prince, the sweetness and complacency of his features
revealing what his station was and high estate, his family renown,
received by inheritance; the king, who for a time restrained his
feelings, now wishful to get rid of doubts, inquired why one descended
from the royal family of the sun-brightness having attended to religious
sacrifices through ten thousand generations, whereof the virtue had
descended as his full inheritance, increasing and accumulating until
now, why he so excellent in wisdom, so young in years, had now become a
recluse, rejecting the position of a Kakravartin's son, begging his
food, despising family fame, his beauteous form, fit for perfumes and
anointings, why c