nd costly jewels. Do not seek to eat this food that is
inedible. Tell me what I should give unto you for the support of your
bodies!'

"'"The Rishis said, 'O king, an acceptance of gifts from a monarch is very
sweet at first but it is poison in the end. Knowing this well, why do
you, O king, tempt us then with these offers? The body of the Brahmana is
the field of the deities. By penance, it is purified. Then again, by
gratifying the Brahmana, one gratifies the deities. If a Brahmana accepts
the gifts made to him by the king, he loses, by such acceptance, the
merit that he would otherwise acquire by his penances that day. Indeed,
such acceptance consumes that merit even as a blazing conflagration
consumes a forest. Let happiness be thine, O king, as the result of the
gifts thou makest to those that solicit thee!' Saying these words unto
them, they left the spot, proceeding by another way. The flesh those
high-souled ones had intended to cook remained uncooked. Indeed,
abandoning that flesh, they went away, and entered the woods in search of
food. After this, the ministers of the king, urged by their master,
entered those woods and plucking certain figs endeavoured to give them
away unto those Rishis. The officers of the king filled some of those
figs with gold and mixing them with others sought to induce those
ascetics to accept them. Atri took up some of those figs, and finding
them heavy refused to take them. He said, 'We are not destitute of
knowledge. We are not fools! We know that there is gold within these
figs. We have our senses about us. Indeed, we are awake instead of being
asleep. If accepted in this world, those will produce bitter consequence
hereafter. He who seeks happiness both here and hereafter should never
accept these.'

"'"Vasishtha said, 'If we accept even one gold coin, it will be counted as
a hundred or even a thousand (in assigning the demerit that attaches to
acceptance). If, therefore, we accept many coins, we shall surely attain
to an unhappy end hereafter!'

"'"Kasyapa said, 'All the paddy and barley on earth, all the gold and
animals and women that occur in the world, are incapable of gratifying
the desire of a single person. Hence, one possessed of wisdom should
dispelling cupidity, adopt tranquillity!'

"'"Bharadwaja said, 'The horns of a Ruru, after their first appearance,
begin to grow with the growth of the animal. The cupidity of man is even
like this. It has no measure!'

"'"Ga