Once upon a time,
In the happy kingdom of Kapilavastu,
The king and queen found out that they were going to have a baby.
So the queen decided to go to her father's house.
On the way,
They came to Lumbini Gardens,
Where she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy,
Whom they called Siddhartha.
Sadly,
Seven days later,
The queen died.
A wise man named Kala Devala told the king that when Siddhartha grew up,
He would see things that would make him unhappy and cause him to leave to the forest.
The king,
Therefore,
Never allowed Siddhartha to go outside of the palace gates.
Siddhartha was a bright and happy child,
Who was very caring and gentle.
One day,
Siddhartha and his cousin Devaduta were taking a walk.
Devaduta suddenly spotted a swan and shot it down.
Then,
They ran to see the wounded bird.
Siddhartha was horrified to see the wounded bird.
He pulled out the arrow and applied some herbs over the wound.
Devaduta insisted on keeping the bird for himself.
So they went to the wise man of the court,
Who declared that the swan belonged to the person who saved it and not to the person who tried to take its life away.
One day,
Siddhartha accompanied his father to watch bulls fight,
But after a while,
He quickly slipped away.
He was later found meditating under a tree,
Quiet and happy by himself.
The prince grew up and turned into a young man.
The king got him married to a beautiful princess.
The king hoped that once he was married,
Siddhartha would never want to leave home.
But Siddhartha wasn't happy in the palace.
One day,
He told his servant,
Let's go for a ride outside the palace.
On the way,
The prince saw a man,
Panned with age.
The prince had never seen an old man before.
What is that?
He asked.
This is an old man,
Said the servant.
We'll all grow old someday,
Prince.
The prince was very upset and went back to his palace.
After a few days,
Siddhartha went out again.
This time he saw a very sick man who was crying out in pain.
Siddhartha had never seen a sick man before and so he asked to his servant,
Why is this man crying?
He's sick and he's crying in pain,
Replied the servant.
Again,
Siddhartha was very upset and went back to the palace.
The next time Siddhartha went out,
He saw a group of people carrying a dead body.
The servant explained Siddhartha that he was seeing a dead person and said,
One day we all will die.
Siddhartha realized that his father had kept him inside of the palace to protect him from these things.
He asked to himself,
Must we all become old,
Sick and die?
Is there no other way?
Siddhartha went out again.
This time he saw a man with a shaven head,
Wearing orange robes and carrying a bowl in his hand.
The man looked very content.
He asked his servant,
Who's that man?
The servant said,
That's a wise man who had left everything and gone to the forest to seek happiness.
Siddhartha thought over all the things he had seen.
He then decided to leave home in search of happiness.
So one night,
While his wife and son were fast asleep,
Siddhartha along with his faithful servant quietly left the palace.
They traveled together till they crossed the river Anoma.
There Siddhartha took off his royal robes.
He gave his clothes and his horse to his servant to take back to the palace.
He then put an orange robe,
Cut off his long hair and set out with a bowl in his hand.
Siddhartha went from teacher to teacher asking,
Do you know the way to happiness?
But nobody could tell him.
Finally,
He sat under a tree and tried to find the answer himself.
Many days later his quest ended.
He had now become a wise man and people called him Buddha.
Buddha loved all animals and treated them with compassion.
Once his jealous cousin sent wild elephants to attack Buddha.
However,
On seeing Buddha,
The elephants bowed down for him.
Buddha had many disciples.
He went from place to place teaching people what he had learned.
His students lived in groups called Sangha.
He preached that one could attain happiness by being content with what one had and showing compassion to all beings.
When Buddha returned to Kapilavastu,
His father,
Wife and son,
Along many others,
Became his disciples.
One of his relatives,
Called Ananda,
Became Buddha's faithful disciple and took care of him when he grew old.
Buddha preached for another 65 years.
By then he had become an old man of a hundred years old.
Finally,
At a palace called Kusinara,
He laid down below the trees and breathed his last.
