editorship of Professor Cowell. Many of them
have long been familiar in eastern collections
and have been adapted in recent times for use
in schools. Each Jataka is made up of three
parts. There is a "story of the present" giving
an account of an incident in Buddha's life
which calls to his mind a "story of the past"
in which he had played a part during a former
incarnation. Then, there is a conclusion
marking the results. Nos. 237 and 238 are
literal translations of Jatakas by T. W.
Rhys-Davids in his _Buddhist Birth Stories_. In
adapting for children, the stories of the
present may be omitted. In fact, everything
except the direct story should be eliminated.
The "gathas," or verses, were very important in
connection with the original purpose of
religious teaching, but are only incumbrances
in telling the story either for its own sake or
for its moral.

THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN

At the same time when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the future
Buddha was born one of a peasant family; and when he grew up he gained
his living by tilling the ground.

At that time a hawker used to go from place to place, trafficking in
goods carried by an ass. Now at each place he came to, when he took the
pack down from the ass's back, he used to clothe him in a lion's skin
and turn him loose in the rice and barley fields. And when the watchmen
in the fields saw the ass they dared not go near him, taking him for a
lion.

So one day the hawker stopped in a village; and while he was getting his
own breakfast cooked, he dressed the ass in a lion's skin and turned him
loose in a barley field. The watchmen in the field dared not go up to
him; but going home, they published the news. Then all the villagers
came out with weapons in their hands; and blowing chanks, and beating
drums, they went near the field and shouted. Terrified with the fear of
death, the ass uttered a cry--the bray of an ass!

And when he knew him then to be an ass, the future Buddha pronounced the
first verse:

"This is not a lion's roaring,
Nor a tiger's nor a panther's;
Dressed in a lion's skin,
'Tis a wretched ass that roars!"

But when the villagers knew the creature to be an ass, they beat him
till his bones broke; and, carrying off the lion's skin, went away. Then