The King of Banaras had a pleasure garden. He ordered the gardener who tended it to let him know if any strange creature came into the garden.
One day, the gardener reported that a wind-deer had come to the forest to graze. The wind-deer is very shy of human beings and would run like the wind if it saw anyone at all. The King wanted the gardener to keep the deer in his garden. The gardener asked for some honey. The King ensured he got enough honey.
Whenever the wind-deer came to the garden, he found that some of the grass was honey-sweet. He liked the taste immensely. He began to come every day to eat the honey-grass. Gradually, the gardener sat quietly watching him. The deer got used to the gardener’s presence. The honey-grass was far too tempting.
One day, the gardener went up close to the wind-deer. The wind-deer had got used to him and accepted his presence, while he grazed the honey-grass. The gardener set up curtains from the end of the pleasure garden to the King’s palace. The deer could not see the other people in the palace because of the curtains. Gently and slowly, he tempted the deer along the path, feeding it honey-grass all the way.
Suddenly, they had arrived inside the palace. The King was enchanted seeing the deer. But within minutes, his enchantment turned into anxiety. The deer had seen the people around and panicked.
Frightened and confused, the deer ran around the palace, knocking into the things around. It was known that the wind-deer was an extremely shy creature. If it saw a human being anywhere and was badly frightened, it would never return. And the wind-deer was in a state of complete panic as it rushed around.
The King’s heart melted seeing the poor creature. He would have loved to keep him in his palace. But the animal’s misery made him decide to set it free. So, the wind-deer went back to its forest, never to return.
The King had become wiser watching the whole incident. He told his court, “This is truly a lesson for all of us. Our teachers always told us not to become too attached to our things, to food and to places where we live. This poor deer got attached to honey-grass. Now, look at the result yourselves. He was lured into the palace and frightened out of his wits. Let us learn the wisdom of not being over-attached to things.”
