nce upon a lotus blossom in the days before our grand fathers a beautiful queen called Maya dreamed she was carrying a milky white elephant in her swollen belly He stood straight and tall and held a flower in his trunk
You are going to have a child who will be a prince a wise man explained to Maya And one day he may become a very holy man And Siddhartha was born a prince in May under a sala tree
Queen Maya did not live long enough even to know Siddhartha But King Shuddhodana Siddhartha’s father adored his son He worried about the wise man’s prediction He wanted his son to be a happy child who would one day be king Shuddhodana cried inside when he imagined that Siddhartha might become a holy man whose face would be lined with worry A holy man would be a hungry cold and lonely man He would deprive himself of food and clothing and friends and family so that nothing would distract him in his search for truth For in those days that was the way of holy men
It’s too high a price to pay for wisdom thought Shuddhodana I must keep my prince a prince From this day on let this beautiful child see only beautiful things Touch him only gently Let him breathe through flowers in his garden let his ears hear only music let him taste only the most delicious food Let him feel how much I love him The baby squeezed his father's one finger with his entire tiny fist and Shuddhodana kissed the baby fingers
