Ja 192 The Story about Good and Bad Luck
(Sirikāḷakaṇṇijātaka)
In the past an unlucky young man, after completing his studies, is given a very beautiful maiden to wife, but he scorns her, and the king takes her to wife instead. Later on the road the queen sees her former husband and despises him with a smile. The Bodhisatta Mahosadha explains why.
1. Itthī siyā rūpavatī, sā ca sīlavatī siyā,
Puriso taṁ na iccheyya, saddahāsi Mahosadhā ti.
Could there be a comely woman, could there be a virtuous woman, a man who doesn’t desire her, do you believe it, Mahosadha?
In this connection, virtuous means endowed with virtue in living.
2. Saddahāmi mahārāja, puriso dubbhago siyā,
Sirī ca kāḷakaṇṇī ca na samenti kudācanan-ti.
I do believe it, O great king, should the man be unfortunate, good luck and bad luck do not at any time come into contact.
In this connection, do not... come into contact, like the near shore and the far shore of the ocean, or, like the the plains of the sky and the plains of the earth, do not connect. The first simile about the shores seems apt, but this is hardly so for the sky and the earth.