Chapter I: Front Matter

_The Grateful Elephant_

_By the same author_:

BUDDHIST PARABLES. Translated from the original Pāli. One volume.
xxix + 348 pages. With photogravure of a Bodhisattva head from
Gandhāra, from original in the Pennsylvania Museum. Octavo. Cloth.
Yale University Press, 1922. $5.00.

BUDDHIST LEGENDS. Translated from the original Pāli text of the
Dhammapada Commentary. Three volumes. Harvard Oriental Series, 28,
29, 30. 1114 pages. Octavo. Cloth. Harvard University Press, 1921.
$15.00 a set.

_The Grateful Elephant_

_And Other Stories Translated from the Pāli_

_By Eugene Watson Burlingame_

_with Illustrations by Dorothy Lathrop_

_New Haven, Yale University Press_
_London, Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press_
_Mcmxxiii_

_Copyright 1923 by Yale University Press._

_Printed in the United States of America._

_To my nephew Westcott_

This _book contains twenty-six stories selected from the author’s larger work_ Buddhist Parables, _Yale University Press, 1922. The translation is a close, idiomatic rendering of the original Pāli text. In a few cases, words and phrases have been softened, and sentences have been omitted. In Story 1, two whole paragraphs which interrupt the progress of the story have been omitted. The author has not, however, “written down” any of the stories in order to remove such difficulties as the original translation may present to the child._

_Note on Pronunciation of Pāli Names._

The quantity of vowels is marked throughout. Short _a_ is pronounced like _u_ in _but_, long _ā_ like _a_ in _father_, long _ī_ like _ee_ in _see_, long _ū_ like _oo_ in _too_, short _i_ and short _u_ differing from the corresponding long vowels not in sound but in length. The _u_ in _Buddha_, for example, is short. Simple consonants are pronounced as in English, except that _c_ is pronounced like _ch_ in _church_, _g_ as in _get_, and _j_ as in _judge_. Combinations like _th_ and _dh_ should be pronounced as in _hothouse_ and _madhouse_. Names containing underdotted letters have been eliminated. A syllable is said to be long if it contains either a long vowel, or a short vowel followed by two consonants (except a consonant followed by _h_). Words of three or more syllables are accented on the second syllable from the last, provided the next to the last syllable is short, as _Gótama_, _Mállika_. If the next to the last syllable is long, it receives the accent, as _Brahmadátta_, _Nibbāna_.

_Contents._

PAGE

Note on pronunciation of Pāli names viii

List of illustrations xiii

Introduction xv

Note on the illustrations xxix

1. The grateful elephant Jā. 156: ii. 17 1
_Where there’s a will, there’s a way_

2. Grateful animals and ungrateful man Jā. 73: i. 322 9
_Driftwood is worth more than some men_

3. Elephant and ungrateful forester Jā. 72: i. 319 19
_The whole earth will not satisfy an ungrateful
man_

4. Quail, crow, fly, frog, and elephants Jā. 357: iii. 174 26
_The biter bit_

5. Quails and fowler Jā. 33: i. 208 30
_In union there is strength_

6. Brahmadatta and the prince Vin. i. 342 33
_Love your enemies_

7. Antelope, woodpecker, tortoise, and hunter Jā. 206: ii. 152 48
_In union there is strength_

8. Brahmadatta and Mallika Jā. 151: ii. 1 52
_Overcome evil with good_

9. A Buddhist Tar-baby Jā. 55: i. 272 58
_Keep the Precepts_

10. Vedabbha and the thieves Jā. 48: i. 252 64
_Cupidity is the root of ruin_

11. The anger-eating ogre S. i. 237 72
_Refrain from anger_

12. The patient woman M. 21: i. 125 75
_Patient is as patient does_

13. Blind men and elephant Udāna, 66 79
_Avoid vain wrangling_

14. King and boar 83
_Evil communications corrupt good manners_