Page:Barlaam and Josaphat. English lives of Buddha.djvu/151

This page needs to be proofread.
LẎF OF SAẎNT BALLAM.
13

doon to me lyke as that kyng dyd/ For thou haft wel receyued me/ and after thys balaam beganne to telle to hym a longe ſermone of the creacyon of the world / and of the Day of Jugemente/ and of the rewarde of good and euyl/ and began ſtrongelye to blame them that worſhyp ydolles/ and told to hym of theyr folye ſuch an exaumple as followeth fayeng/ That an archer toke a lytel byrde callyd a nyghtyngale/ and whan he wold haue ſlayne thys nyghtyngale ther was a voys giuen to the nyghtyngale whyche ſayd/ O thou man what ſhold it auayle the yf thou flee me / Thou mayſte not fylle thy bely wyth me / but and yf thou wylt lete me goo / I ſhal teche the thre wyſedomes / that yf thou kepe them dylygentely/ thou mayſt haue grete prouffite thereby / Thenne he was abaſſhed of his wordes / and promyſed that he wold lete hym goo / yf he wold telle hym his wyſdomes/ Thenne the byrde ſayd/ ſtudye neuer to take that thynge that thou mayſt not take/ & of thynge loſte/ whiche may not be recoueryd/ ſorowe neuer therfore/ ne byleue neuer thynge that is Incredyble/ Kepe wel thyſe thre thynges / and thou ſhalte doo wel / and thenne he lete the byrde goo as he had promyſed/ and thenne the nyghtyngale fleyng in the ayer ſayd to hym/ alas thou wretched

man

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.