Four on a Log (Gratitude)

　　Once upon a time, King Brahmadatta of Benares had a son. He grew up to be a mean and cruel he-man - the type that”s always trying to prove he”s tougher than everyone else. He was a bully who constantly pushed people around and picked fights. Whenever he spoke to people it was with a stream of obscenities - right out of the gutter. And he was always quick to anger - just like a hissing snake that”s just been stepped on.

　　People inside and outside the palace ran from him as they would from a starving man-eating demon. They avoided him as they would a speck of dirt in the eye. Behind his back everyone called him the ”Evil Prince”. In short - he was not a nice man!

　　One day the prince decided to go swimming. So he went down to the river with his servants and attendants. Suddenly it became almost as dark as night. A huge storm came up. Being so rough and tough, the prince was always trying to show he wasn”t scared of anything. So he yelled at his servants, "Take me into the middle of the river and bathe me. Then bring me back to shore."

　　Following his orders, they took him out to midstream. Then they said, "Now is our chance! Whatever we do here, the king will never find out. So let”s kill the Evil Prince. Into the flood you go, good-for-nothing!" With that they threw him into the stormy raging river.

　　When they returned to the bank, the others asked where the prince was. They replied, "We don”t know. As the rain came up, he must have swum faster than us and gone back to Benares."

　　When they returned to the palace, the king asked, "Where is my son

　　" They said, "We don”t know, your majesty. When the storm came up, we thought he went back ahead of us." King Brahmadatta collected a search party and began looking for the prince. They searched carefully, all the way to the riverside, but couldn”t find him.

　　What had happened was this. In the darkness and wind and rain the prince had been swept down the flooding river. Luckily he was able to grab onto a floating dead tree trunk. Frantically he held on for dear life. As he was being swept along, the tough he-man was so afraid of drowning that he cried like a terrified helpless baby!

　　It just so happened that, not long before, a very rich man had died in Benares. He had buried his treasure hoard in the riverbank, along the same stretch of river. His fortune amounted to 40 million gold coins. Because of his miserly craving for riches, he was reborn as a lowly snake, slithering on his belly while still guarding his treasure.

　　At a nearby spot on the riverbank another rich miser had buried a treasure of 30 million gold coins. Likewise, due to his stingy clawing after wealth, he had been reborn as a water rat. He too remained to guard his buried treasure.

　　Lo and behold. when the storm came up, both the snake and the water rat were flooded out of their holes and washed into the raging river. In fear of drowning, they both happened to grab onto the same dead log carrying the frightened wailing prince. The snake climbed up on one end and the water rat on the other.

　　There also happened to be a tall cotton tree growing nearby. There was a young parrot roosting in it. When the storm-flooded river rose up, the cotton tree”s roots were washed away and it fell into the water. When he tried to fly away, the wind and rain swept the little parrot onto the same dead log with the snake, the water rat and the Evil Prince.

　　Now there were four on the log, floating towards a bend in the river. Nearby a holy man was living humbly in a little hut. He just happened to be the Bodhisatta - the Enlightenment Being. He had been born into a rich high class family in Kasi. When he had grown up, he had given up all his wealth and position, and had come to live by himself next to the river.

　　It wa…

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