Once upon a time the Bodhisatta was a Pigeon, and lived in a nest-basket which a rich man's cook had hung up in the kitchen, in order to earn merit by it.

A very wealthy old man, imagining that he was on the point of death, sent for his sons and divided his property among them.

One day Sun, Moon, and Wind went out to dine with their uncle and aunts Thunder and Lightning.

One day a young prince was out practising archery with the son of his father's chief vizier, when one of the arrows accidentally struck the wife of a merchant, who was walking about in an upper room of a house close by.

This story the Teacher told in Jetavana about a Brother who had ceased striving after righteousness.

As a certain fisherwoman passed by a palace crying her fish, the queen appeared at one of the windows and beckoned her to come near and show what she had.

There was once upon a time a King who had no children.

In a country were seven daughters of poor parents, who used to come daily to play under the shady trees in the King's garden with the gardener's daughter;

There was once a farmer who suffered much at the hands of a money-lender.

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.

Once there lived a great Raja, whose name was Salabhan, and he had a Queen, by name Lona, who, though she wept and prayed at many a shrine, had never a child to gladden her eyes.

In a certain village there lived ten cloth merchants, who always went about together.

Once upon a time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the future Buddha returned to life as his son and heir.

Once upon a time there lived a King who had seven Queens, but no children.

Now in a certain place there lived a Brahman named Haridatta. He was a farmer, but poor was the return his labour brought him.

A poor blind Brahman and his wife were dependent on their son for their subsistence.

The future Buddha was once born in a minister's family, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares; and when he grew up, he became the king's adviser in things temporal and spiritual.

A merchant started his son in life with three hundred rupees, and bade him go to another country and try his luck in trade.

There was a certain Brahman in a certain village, named Harisarman.

A soothsayer when on his deathbed wrote out the horoscope of his second son, whose name was Gangazara, and bequeathed it to him as his only property, leaving the whole of his estate to his eldest son.

Once there was a king called King Dantal, who had a great many rupees and soldiers and horses.

Long ago the Bodisat was born to a forest life as the Genius of a tree standing near a certain lotus pond.

In a country there was a Raja who had an only son who every day went out to hunt.

Near a town in India called Ikshumati, on a beautiful wide river, with trees belonging to a great forest near its banks, there dwelt a holy man named Mana Kanaka, who spent a great part of his life praying to God.

A certain man, named Hari-Sarman, who lived in a little village in India, where there were no rich people and everyone had to work hard to get his daily bread, got very weary of the life he had to lead.

In the branches of a great tree, in a forest in India, lived a wise old crow in a very comfortable, well-built nest.

The strange adventures related in the story of the Beetle and the Silken Thread took place in the town of Allahabad, "the City of God," so called because it is situated near the point of meeting of the two sacred rivers of India, the Ganges, which the Hindus lovingly call Mother Ganga because they believe its waters can wash away their sins, and the Jumna, which they consider scarcely less holy.

In the city of Vardhamana in India there lived a powerful king named Vira-Bhuja, who, as was the custom in his native land, had many wives, each of whom had several sons.

Far, far away in a town of India called Chinchini, where in days long gone by the ancient gods in whom the people believed are said sometimes to have appeared to those who called upon them for help, there lived three brothers of noble birth, who had never known what it was to want for food, or clothes, or a house to live in.

In one of the smaller cities of India called Sravasti the people gathered together on a very hot day to stare at and talk about a stranger, who had come in to the town, looking very weary and walking with great difficulty because his feet were sore with tramping for a long distance on the rough roads.

This is the story of four creatures, none of whom loved each other, who lived in the same banyan tree in a forest in India.

Long, long ago there lived far away in India a woodcutter called Subha Datta and his family, who were all very happy together.