Voices from the cave

A traveler falls into a river and calls for help. A huge stag with a fur of nine colors saves the drowning man. The queen of a nearby kingdom dreams about the stag and longs for its fur. She prompts the king to post a reward for anyone who can locate the deer. The traveler had promised the stag not to tell anyone about it, but on hearing about the reward, he goes to the palace and breaks his promise.

When the king attempts to shoot the stag, the deer's body emits a dazzling light that shields it from the arrows. The stag tells the king how it saved the traveler. The king is moved and sets it free. Due to their greed, the traveler and the queen both die.

This Buddhist fable is depicted in one of the caves of the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, one of the most famous Buddhist sites in Northwest China's Gansu province. In Cave No 257, this story is painted in nine sections. The Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and a number of other grottoes played an important role in the spread of Buddhism in China, and storytelling became one of the strongest tools.