Page:Barlaam and Josaphat. English lives of Buddha.djvu/138

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APPENDIX

the King. But shortly afterwards the merchant brought two real peacocks as a present to the King. The vizier maintained that his was the authentic bird. Whereupon the merchant poured hot water on the raven, which changed colour at once. The same test applied to the peacocks only made them more beautiful. So the King honoured the merchant and punished the vizier.

The merchant is Buddha, the vizier an idolater, the peacock belief in God, the raven heresy.

[Occurrences in Barlaam. — Only in Bombay text of Arab., but certainly Indian (see next section).

Indian Original. — Baveru Jataka, tr. Morris in Folklore Journal, iii. 124.

Parallel. — Æsop, Daw in Peacock's Feathers (cf. Caxton, Ro. ii, 15, and note i. 77 n).

Literature. — Kuhn, 31 ; Jacobs, I.e.

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