...and a continuation of the story can be found here. Here we continue with the story of the young Siddhartha.
While the new baby was still young, his mother, Queen Maya died. She knew her time was short, and asked her sister to care for Siddhartha. Her sister promised Maya that she would care for the child, and she did. She loved young Siddhartha and raised him as if he were her own child. He grew into a good-hearted child who was very handsome.
His father, the King, made sure that young Siddhartha was taught by the finest teachers, and soon the boy showed how intelligent he was. In fact, after just a few days of classes, his teachers told the king that the young prince had no further need of them. He had already learned all they had to teach, and had, in fact, taught them.
The King was filled with pride, and was even more certain that his son would grow up to be a wise and powerful king. But something beyong his intelligence made the boy even more special: his kind and gentle nature.
While others his age tussled and rolled and scrapped and played at being soldiers, Prince Siddhartha spent time alone, in quiet. He loved the animals in the garden and they clearly loved him, too. They knew the Prince would never harm them, and thus showed no fear. Even wild animals came to him and ate from his hand.
One day, while he was sitting in the garden, a flock of swans flew overhead. Suddenly an arrow shot through the sky, hitting one of the swans in the wing. The swan fell to the ground beside Siddhartha. The prince gently tended the swan and removed the arrow. Then he rubbed a special lotion into the bird's wing. He wrapped his silk shirt around the swan to keep the injured bird warm.
The Prince's cousin ran into the garden, holding his bow an arrow, and excitedly told Siddhartha how he shot a swan. He knew it had landed nearby, and was looking for it. Then he saw the bloody arrow on the ground, and realized the Prince was holding his swan.
The cousin tried to take the swan from Siddhartha, but Siddhartha refused, no matter how much his cousin argued and shouted. Finally the Prince told his cousin, "When adults fight as we are fighting, they settle their argument in court, before a group of wise people."
This did not sound like much fun to his cousin, but, seeing no other way to reclaim his swan, he agreed. The two of them went before the King and his ministers, who felt their time was too valuable to be taken up with the argument of two children. But the King insisted. These boys were both royal Princes and someday they would be rulers. They needed to see how the court functioned.
So each boy described his side of the story. Then the ministers debated. One boy shot the bird, which made it his, some argued. But others felt that, since Siddhartha found the bird, he had claim to it.
Finally a wise old man entered, and they told the story to him.
The old man listened carefully and then spoke. "Everyone values his or her life more than anything else in the world. Therefore, the swan belongs to the one who saved its life, rather than to the one who tried to take the its life away." The swan was given to Siddhartha.
Later, when the King went to thank the man, he was nowhere to be found. He had disappeared as mysteriously as he had appeared.
But this, the King believed, was yet another sign that Siddhartha was a very special child.
The bracelet, which tells the story of the birth of Buddha, can be found here.
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