The Bhikṣuṇī Maṇimēkhalai

236 - The Queen seeks Revenge
consequence of his having cut his own cook in two for a slight
remissness in the discharge of his duty. It is this deed of his that
brought on his death once by the look of the poisonous cobra, and
again by the sword of the Vidyādhara!’
She then followed it up by telling the queen of all that had happened
ever since she got into the garden outside the city. She then continued,
‘All the evil that you attempted to do to me, I was able to save myself
from by the possession of miraculous power. Therefore give up the
useless sorrow to which you have given way to the extent of doing
evil deeds.
Have you not heard the story of the wife of an artisan, who because of
misrule in the kingdom and because her husband gave her up, went
away to a distant place to set herself up to live by hiring herself out
for the enjoyment of others indiscriminately. Her own child whom
she had left behind having been brought up by a Brahman was among
her lovers and gave up his life when he learned of the fact.
A hunter who chased a deer big with young was reduced to painful
sorrow when he saw the young one jump out from the ripped open
entrails of the deer. You have known people who, [175] being drunk,
come to certain death by falling upon the tusks of fighting elephants.
Similarly you have seen the evil fate that overtakes life by falsehood
or theft. Hence it becomes plain that those that wish to live in this
world must give up these vices which bring on evil consequences only.
Otherwise all that we learn is of no use. To give to those that suffer
from poverty, to feed those that suffer from hunger, to be kind to
those that suffer is the only conduct suitable to those who wish to lead
a good life in this world.’