The king said: ‘Do you (recluses), Nāgasena, strive after the removal of past sorrow?’

‘No.’

‘What then? Is it future sorrow you strive to remove?’

‘No.’

‘Present sorrow, then?’

‘Not that either.’

‘Then if it be neither past, nor future, nor present sorrow that you strive to remove, whereunto, is it that you strive?’

‘What are you asking, O king? That this sorrow should cease and no other sorrow should arise—that is what we strive after.’

‘But, Nāgasena, is there (now) such a thing as future sorrow?’

‘No. I grant that.’

‘Then you are mighty clever people to strive after the removal of that which does not exist!’

‘Has it ever happened to you, O king, that rival kings rose up against you as enemies and opponents?’

‘Yes, certainly.’

‘Then you set to work, I suppose, to have moats dug, and ramparts thrown up, and watch towers erected, and strongholds built, and stores of food collected ?’

‘Not at all. All that had been prepared beforehand.’

‘Or you had yourself trained in the management of war elephants, and in horsemanship, and in the use of the war chariot, and in archery and fencing?’

‘Not at all. I had learnt all that before.’

‘But why?’

‘With the object of warding off future danger.’

‘How so? Is there such a thing (now) as future danger?’

‘No. I must grant that.’

‘Then you kings are mighty clever people to trouble yourselves about the warding off of that which does not exist!’

‘Give me a further illustration.’

‘Tell me, O king. Is it when you are athirst that you set to work to have wells dug, or ponds hollowed out, or reservoirs formed, with the object of getting something to drink?’

‘Certainly not. All that has been prepared beforehand.’

‘But to what end?’

‘With the object of preventing future thirst.’

‘How so? Is there such a thing as future thirst?’

‘No, Sir.’

‘So you are mighty clever people, O king, to take all that trouble to prevent the future thirst which all the time does not exist!’

‘Give me a further illustration.’

[Then the Elder referred, as before, to the means people always took of warding against future hunger, and the king expressed his pleasure at the way in which the puzzle had been solved.]