TALE OF THE MERCHANTS AT SEA
6/29/20
(From the Buddhist Samudda-Vanija Jataka 454)
During the reign of King Brahmadatta in Benares, India, there was a city of carpenters populated by a thousand families. The carpenters from this town were dishonest, they used to charge people for their work but failed to deliver the products. Because of that they were harassed by people who were disappointed with them.
So they decided to move to another place. They cut down trees, built a mighty ship and sailed in the Ganges River until they reached a bountiful island in the middle of the ocean.
In that island, a man already lived there. He told the carpenters that they can live abundantly in that island but when they go to the toilet they must dig a hole in the sand and cover their feces with the sand, because the spirits that live in the island would get furious if their home would be polluted.
One day, the carpenters decided to make liquor from the juice of the sugar cane they found in the island and made a party. They got drunk, sang, danced and laughed loudly. They also relieved themselves everywhere on the island without covering it. Thus, the island became foul and disgusting.
The spirits were enraged and one of them decided to bring a flood to utterly destroy the people in that island. But one good-hearted spirit didn’t think these people deserved to die and this spirit warned them to flee from the island.
Among the carpenters there were 2 leaders: one foolish and greedy, the other one was wise. Each of them had 500 followers. The wise leader decided to heed the warning and built a great ship (ark), while the foolish leader and his followers continued with their drinking and polluting the island.
On the day of the full moon, massive wave arose in the ocean. The wise man quickly went into the ship with his followers and sailed away, while the foolish carpenters and his followers drowned in the flood that covered the entire island.
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