The Questions at the Lake

The twelve years in the forest were almost over. One day the five Pandava brothers chased a deer until they could run no further, and they sat down under a tree, worn out and very thirsty.

"Nakula," said Yudhishthira, "climb up and see if there is water near."

Nakula climbed. "I see trees that grow near water, and I hear cranes."

"Go and bring some back in the quivers."

Nakula found a clear lake with cranes standing in it. He bent to drink, and a voice spoke out of the air.

"Do not be rash, child. This lake is mine. Answer my questions first, then drink and carry away as much as you like."

Nakula was too thirsty to listen. He drank, and he fell dead.

When he did not come back, Yudhishthira sent his twin, Sahadeva. Sahadeva saw his brother lying on the bank and heard the same voice. He drank and fell. Arjuna came next, and then Bhima. Each of them heard the warning, and each of them drank.

At last Yudhishthira went himself. He found a lake as lovely as if a god had made it, and his four brothers lying beside it. There was no wound on them. Their faces had not even lost their colour.

He wept. Then he went down to the water.

"I am a crane, living on small fish," said the voice. "It was I who sent your brothers to the lord of the dead. If you drink without answering me, you will be the fifth."

"No bird did this," said Yudhishthira. "Who are you?"

Then he saw it, standing on a tree. It was a Yaksha as tall as a palm, blazing like fire, with a voice like thunder.

"I warned them, and they drank. If you want to live, king, answer first."

"I do not want what belongs to you. Ask. I will answer as well as I can."

The questions came quickly, and there were many.

"What is heavier than the earth? What is higher than the sky? What is faster than the wind? What is more numerous than grass?"

"A mother is heavier than the earth. A father is higher than the sky. The mind is faster than the wind. Our thoughts are more numerous than grass."

"What does not close its eyes when it sleeps?"

"A fish."

"Who is the friend of a traveller? Who is the friend of one at home? Of one who is sick? Of one about to die?"

"His companion on the road. His wife. The doctor. And what he has given away."

"What is the greatest wonder?"

"Day after day, creatures go to the house of Yama. And those who are left behind believe that they will live for ever. What could be more wonderful than that?"

The Yaksha was satisfied.

"You have answered. One of your brothers may live. Choose."

"Let Nakula live."

"Nakula? Bhima is as strong as ten thousand elephants. All of you depend on Arjuna. Why your stepbrother?"

"My father had two wives, Kunti and Madri. I am Kunti's son, and I am alive. Let Madri have a living son too. I will not treat my two mothers differently."

"You put fairness above your own gain," said the Yaksha. "So let all your brothers live."

They got up as if they had been sleeping, and they were no longer hungry or thirsty.

"You are no Yaksha," said Yudhishthira. "Who are you?"

"I am your father, child. I am Dharma, the lord of justice. I was the deer, too. I came to see you and to test you."

He offered wishes. Yudhishthira asked that the Brahmin whose fire-sticks the deer had carried off should have them back, and that nobody should recognise the brothers in the thirteenth year, which they had to spend in hiding. Last, he asked that his mind should always overcome greed and anger. Dharma granted all three and vanished.

The Buddhist birth stories have a lake like this one too.

The king of Benares had three sons. The mother of the eldest, Prince Mahimsasa, and of the second, Prince Moon, died young. The king married again and Prince Sun was born. In his joy he promised the new queen a wish, and years later she asked for it. She wanted her own son to be king.

The king refused. But he feared for the two elder boys, and he sent them away to the forest until his death. Little Prince Sun saw his brothers leaving and went with them.

In the mountains the eldest sat down under a tree. "Sun, run down to that pool. Drink, bathe, and bring us water in a lotus leaf."

The pool belonged to a water spirit. It had been told that it might eat anyone who entered the water, except those who knew what is truly godlike. It seized the boy.

"What is truly godlike?"

"The sun and the moon," said Prince Sun.

"You do not know." And it dragged him under.

Prince Moon went next. "The four quarters of the sky," he said, and he was dragged under too.

Then the eldest came. He saw two sets of footprints going down to the water and none coming back, so he stayed on the bank with his bow in his hand. The spirit came out in the shape of a woodcutter and admitted what it had done.

"I will tell you what is godlike," said the prince. "Those who shrink from doing wrong, the quiet and the good. Only they deserve the name."

"You know it," said the spirit. "I will give you one brother. Which?"

"The youngest."

"You know what is right and do not do it. The elder comes first."

"It was for his sake that we were sent away," said the prince. "He came with us by his own choice. Who would believe me if I went home without him?"

The spirit praised him and gave back both. Later the prince took the spirit home with him and gave it a place to live.