"It is recorded in the Mahabhinishkramana that Devadatta, the cousin of Prince Siddhartha, took a bow and arrow and shot down a swan. The creature was grounded but not killed. The future Buddha took the bird upon his knees and comforted it. Devadatta was sent to claim his prize, no doubt intending to kill it, but the Buddha refused to hand over the swan, saying that the bird was his:
'Then Lord Buddha,
Laid the swan's neck beside his own smooth cheek
And gravely spoke, "Say no! the bird is mine,
The first of myriad things that shall be mine
By right of mercy and love's lordliness...'" (The Light of Asia by Sir Edwin Arnold)
Shantideva: 209-210
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