CHAPTER XIX

 Sudās, the gardener, plucked from his tank the last lotus left by the ravage¹ of winter and went to sell it to the king at the palace gate.

 

There he met a traveller who said to him, “Ask your price for the last lotus,—I shall offer it to Lord Buddha².”

 

Sudās said, “If you pay one golden māshā it will be yours.”

 

The traveller paid it.

 

At that moment the king came out and he wished to buy the flower, for he was on his way to see Lord Buddha, and he thought, “It would be a fine thing to lay at his feet the lotus that bloomed in winter.”

 

When the gardener said he had been offered a golden māshā the king offered him ten, but the traveller doubled the price.

 

The gardener, being greedy, imagined a greater gain from him for whose sake they were bidding. He bowed and said, “I cannot sell this lotus.”

 

In the hushed shade of the mango grove³ beyond the city wall Sudās stood before Lord Buddha, on whose lips sat the silence of love and whose eyes beamed peace like the morning star of the dew-washed autumn.

 

Sudās looked in his face and put the lotus at his feet and bowed his head to the dust.

 

Buddha smiled and asked, “What is your wish, my son?”

 

Sudās cried, “The least touch of your feet.”

1 ravage   

vt.使...荒废，破坏...；n.破坏，掠夺，荒废

参考例句：

• Just in time to watch a plague ravage his village.恰好目睹了瘟疫毁灭了他的村庄。
• For two decades the country has been ravaged by civil war and foreign intervention.20年来，这个国家一直被内战外侵所蹂躏。

2 Buddha   

n.佛；佛像；佛陀

参考例句：

• Several women knelt down before the statue of Buddha and prayed.几个妇女跪在佛像前祈祷。
• He has kept the figure of Buddha for luck.为了图吉利他一直保存着这尊佛像。

3 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。