Once upon a time there was a fatuous and tyrannical king. Once, the queen gave birth to a daughter. Seeing that the girl was so young, the king called the doctor and ordered, "Go and get me some medicine so that my daughter can eat it and grow up soon."

The doctor dared not refuse the king's request, because in that case, the tyrannical king would kill him at once. The clever doctor thought for a moment and said to the king, "I know a good medicine." If you give it to your daughter, she will grow up immediately. " . But now, I'm in a hurry, and I don't have this medicine in my hand, so I have to go far away to find it. "

Hearing this, the king asked the doctor to find the medicine at once. The doctor added, "on one condition, your majesty can't see your daughter until I find the medicine." If you see your daughter, this medicine won't work. When I find medicine to eat, I will bring her to you, and you will see an adult princess. "

The king agreed to the doctor's request and asked the minister to take his daughter away. The doctor went out and went far away to look for medicine. It was twelve years before the doctor came back to find the king's daughter. The princess has grown into a big girl at this time. The doctor gave her a medicine at random and then took her to the king. When the king saw his daughter, he was very happy and thought, "This is really a good doctor. After giving her daughter medicine, she suddenly became so big. " So the king ordered his attendants to take many treasures to the doctor.

When everyone knew this, they laughed at the king's ignorance. He didn't know how to calculate his daughter's age. When he saw her grow up, he thought it was the power of medicine. It's really stupid

-According to Bai Yujing.

Two teams of businessmen

On one occasion, Buddha Sakyamuni told monks a story from a long time ago at the Dharma Conference.

Before the robbery of the monks in the past, two caravans with 500 businessmen each raised money and food in Polonaise, prepared many sailboats and decided to have a treasure hunt.

They set sail, braved the wind and waves and sailed to the depths of the sea.

Merchant ships have been sailing at sea for a long time. On this day, they suddenly found a treasure island in front of them. There are many treasures and beautiful women on that island, and they are dumbfounded.

At this time, the leader of the first caravan saw this scene and said, "We sacrificed our wealth and life for treasure hunting and worked hard to come here. There are all kinds of beautiful women and babies here, and it is enough for us to enjoy them all our lives! We might as well live here! "

However, when the leader of the second caravan saw this scene, he said calmly, "In the vast sea, this treasure island is full of miracles, but it certainly won't last long!"

While everyone was hesitating, a goddess happened to pass by here, took pity on these businessmen and said to them in the air, "Although you can enjoy some happiness here for the time being, it won't last long. In seven days, the island will be swallowed up by the sea! "

The goddess disappeared after she finished speaking.

Another witch passed by. She wanted these businessmen to be swallowed up by the sea. She said to them in the air, "Don't go, how could this treasure island be swallowed up by the sea?" If we lose the opportunity, where can we find these fascinating beauty and wonderful treasures in the world? That girl just lied to you, don't believe what she said! "

When she finished, she disappeared immediately.

The captain of the caravan said to his opponent, "Don't believe what the eldest daughter said. Let's all stay on this island and enjoy the five desires! "

The leader of the second caravan said to his men, "Don't lose your life for a moment's pleasure, but hurry up and pack up some treasures and don't covet this place." What that woman said that day was true! "

Sure enough, seven days later, as the goddess said, the waves of the sea swallowed up the treasure island. The second batch of caravan members are ready to stay on board, so they are safe and sound. And the first caravan was swallowed up by the sea because of its fun.

The leader of the second caravan tried to save the leader of the first caravan with a spear hook, but this wave of adventure failed.

At this time, Sakyamuni Buddha turned to the long-faced old Sharifutsu and said, "Do you know that the leader of the first team is the predecessor of the current Dipa fight, and the leader of the second team is my predecessor?"

Then, Sakyamuni Buddha said to the monks: "At that time, the 500 merchants in the first caravan were the 500 disciples of today's Dipa fight; At that time, the 500 merchants of the second caravan were today's 500 arhats! The goddess at that time was today's Sharifutsu, and the witch at that time was today's full moon monk! "

-According to the "up" volume.

Blind craftsman

In ancient times, it was not easy to be a master of craftsmen. They not only had to learn from their master since childhood, but also were forced to undertake all kinds of labor for the king after they started. In order to avoid heavy labor, craftsmen have come up with various methods.

There is an old craftsman. He served the king for a long time and made many exquisite handicrafts. Kings often give them as prizes to meritorious ministers. Although the old craftsman worked hard all his life, he was still poor. He wanted to escape from the king's labor, but he was afraid to escape, because it would be a crime, so there was only one way left for him, and that was to plead with the king.

He made up his mind, thought for a long time, and finally got up the courage to ask for the king: "Tell your majesty." He summoned up his courage and said with trepidation, "I am highly valued by your majesty and can work for your majesty." But now I am old and weak, my eyes are overworked, I can hardly see clearly, and I can no longer serve your majesty. Therefore, I want to retire from my hometown and ask your permission. "

"You are my old craftsman." The king wouldn't let him go. "I especially like what you have done. I don't want you to go, but you have worked for the king for decades, and you should enjoy it. " Give you one hundred and twenty pieces of silver and go home and enjoy your old age. "

"Thank you Hong En your majesty! Thank you, Your Majesty Hong En! " The old craftsman was overjoyed and kowtowed with joy.

The story of the old craftsman soon spread among the craftsmen, and everyone envied his blessing and talked about it in succession:

"Have you heard about the old craftsman pretending to be blind?"

"Yes, he told the king that he was blind. In fact, he is not blind at all. Better than my eyes. Not only did he escape hard labor, but he also got a reward of 120 silver. "

"The blind can not do coolies. Let's blind our eyes, too Even if we don't get paid, it's good not to do coolies. "

Some people listened to their comments and thought these craftsmen were stupid, so they enlightened them and said, "The old craftsman lied to the king that he was blind, and the king would certainly believe him." But now that you see that the old craftsman is blind, the king will guess that you didn't want to work hard, so you were blind on purpose. Not only will there be no reward, but you will be punished for your sins and may even be executed. Besides, your eyes are ruined, and you can't even take care of yourself, let alone make a living. Didn't you ruin yourself for nothing? "

After listening to his words, the craftsmen felt very reasonable and gave up the idea of blindness.

-According to "Interpreting a Hundred Similes, Pretending to be a Blind Metaphor"

Sumoti

In ancient times, there was an eight-year-old girl named Sumiti.

One day, she ran away from home and went to the Buddha's residence. She said to the Buddha, "Buddha, I will do the forty things of the Bodhisattva as you said. I promise I will do well. "

At this time, the venerable person on the side listened and felt incredible. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he couldn't believe that an eight-year-old girl would say such a thing and ask her, "These forty things are for adults to do. How can you do it as a little girl? "

But Sumiti answered seriously: "I can do it, I can do it!" " You don't believe me, I gave me three thousand miles to move six times, and countless smallpox fell from the sky, and all the instruments couldn't play. "

Then, she added, "To show that I am sincere, I swear that if I become a Buddha in the future, I will convert all people to Buddhism. At that time, everyone will wear yellow robes, and when they get together, they will be golden yellow. At that time, you will hear them chanting, and you will see that their faces are golden against the yellow robes. "

At this time, Mu Lian said to the Buddha, "This little girl is really amazing. She has realized this and she will definitely become a bodhisattva. "

Manjushri asked her aside, "In that case, why not change to a female body?" Wouldn't it be better if you became a man? "

Shamoti replied: "I think it doesn't matter whether you change the female body or not, because there is no distinction between men and women in learning Buddhism." Today, I want to dispel your doubts and show you that I can practice, too, and I practice very well. "

Sumiti added: "From now on, I will soon realize that I will become a person when I realize it."

Soon after this, she really became a man and her hair naturally fell out. Kesaya wears it on his body and becomes a monk (that is, there are monks who don't kill, steal, commit adultery, lie, drink, paint spices, listen to songs and dances, sit in big beds, eat regularly and store gold and silver).

At this time, Sumitomo said: "I practice Buddhism, and I will never let the following three things happen in our country: First, I will not have thoughts and behaviors that hinder Buddhism and Taoism; Second, there will be no cases where men are unwilling to work or farm; Third, there will be no situation in which women are lazy and unwilling to do housework. If you think I am sincere, please ask the Almighty Buddha to turn me into a 30-year-old Samana. "

As soon as his voice fell, his body became stronger and his face looked more resolute, like a mature man of thirty.

Xu Mishan also said to Manjusri Bodhisattva: "When I practice, I will make all people in our country convert to Buddhism and put on golden robes, so that seven kinds of precious trees, such as gold, silver, glass, enamel, agate, amber and coral, will grow all over the country and on the city walls, so that treasure pools and flowers will not be reduced."

Speaking of this, he took a deep breath and then said, "At that time, when people get together to wear cassock, the cassock is golden, which makes everyone's face glow with golden light."

At this time, the earth-holding god listened to what Xumishan said underground and was deeply moved. He couldn't help but go out of the ground and become a god, constantly praising Sumiti.

Thanks to the boundless merits mentioned by Samamitabha, as well as his meditation and perseverance, he finally became a Buddha and realized his best wishes.

-According to "The Buddha said that the Bodhisattva Sutra must have a motive"

Water supply distance

In ancient times, there was an ancient village where a primitive tribe lived, five days away from the city. There is a spring in this village, which is sweet and delicious and is famous far and near. To this end, the king ordered the villagers to bring him sweet spring water for him to drink every day. Due to the long distance between the city and the village, the villagers' hard work of delivering water every day makes them deeply tired and difficult to support. The villagers were very helpless. They all planned to leave their homes and fly away to avoid the king's labor.

At that time, the village head saw the villagers' hearts floating, so he comforted everyone and said, "Don't worry. I should plead with the king for you to change the distance between the village and the city from five days to three days. " In this way, you can walk a lot less and you won't feel tired when you send water back and forth. "Say that finish, the head man went to the city to plead with the king. Hearing this, the king readily agreed to the chief's request and immediately changed five days from ten to three. After the villagers knew it, they were ecstatic and excited, so they settled down and continued to travel back and forth for the king and tirelessly delivered spring water. However, some people feel strange and tell the villagers: "You have all been fooled! It's always five days from the village to the city. But for the king's words, you lost your way for two days. "Although the villagers listened to the words of the wise man, they still believed in their king, believing that the king shortened the distance they sent water, and they never wanted to stay away from their hometown and escape the hard work of sending water.

-According to Bai Yujing.

Poor son of wisdom

A long time ago, a brother and sister lived a poor life. After the elder sister got married, she entrusted her eldest son to her younger brother who worked as a weaver in the palace because of difficulties in life. From then on, my nephews and uncles began to live together and live together.

When my nephew grew up, he followed my uncle into the palace as a weaver. They knit all kinds of beautiful silks and satins for the king day and night, but their income is very small, and they often have no food and clothes.

Once, my nephews and uncles went to the king's warehouse to pay for silks and satins, and found all kinds of gold, silver and jewels piled up in the warehouse. When they got home, they said, "We both work hard day and night-we are as poor as a church mouse. When can I live a good life? There are inexhaustible gold, silver and jewels in the king's warehouse. Why don't we get some to use and improve our lives? " When the discussion was over, the two men secretly dug a tunnel in the dead of night, got into the king's vault and stole a lot of gold and silver.

The next morning, the storekeeper found that the storeroom was stolen and reported it to the king in a hurry. The king thought for a while and came up with a plan to catch the thief: "Don't tell anyone yet, so the thief will think that we have a lot of treasures and will steal them again before realizing that we have lost them." You should ambush more people in the warehouse and keep a close watch. Here they come, you must arrest them all, and no one is allowed to escape. "Hades will act according to orders.

After a while, my nephews and uncles saw that the king was silent and were ready to steal again. The nephew said to his uncle, "Uncle, you are old and weak. If the keeper catches you, I'm afraid it's hard to escape. You should be more careful. " I am young and strong, so they may not catch me. But don't worry, if you are caught by them, I will try to save you. "Unexpectedly, as soon as my uncle entered the field, he was knocked down by several soldiers lying in ambush there. Seeing that it was too late to save his uncle, the nephew quickly bent down and ran. When the soldier found another thief, he called the guard. By the time the breeder arrived, his nephew had run away without a trace. The shopkeeper was afraid that the king would blame himself for knowing that another thief had escaped, so he killed his uncle.

The next morning, the shopkeeper took his uncle's head to see the king. The wily king thinks that such an old man can't steal so much treasure by himself. He must have an accomplice. He ordered his uncle's body to be thrown at the crossroads and said, "You send some soldiers to guard it closely. If you find someone crying to collect the body, it must be an accomplice of the thief. Bring him to me at once. "

Besides, after my nephew escaped, it was to save his uncle. Unexpectedly, his head was cut off and his body was thrown in the street, which made me feel like a knife. He thought, "My uncle didn't have a good life when he was alive, and he will be punished like this when he dies. I'm really sorry for his old man's house! I must get his body back and let it rest in peace. "

The soldiers watched the intersection all day under the orders of the king, and they didn't see any suspicious signs. At dusk, a group of businessmen from afar came into town, and carriages loaded with goods drove through the streets one after another. Suddenly, a carriage came in the opposite direction. Two carriages were crowded at the crossroads and crowded the streets. Both sides met each other halfway and quarreled. Two carriages full of straw turned over, and the body was covered with straw. When the soldiers found something was wrong, they rushed forward to disperse the crowd.

The next morning, the soldiers told the king what happened the day before. The king immediately understood that this was the thief's accomplice. So, he ordered all the soldiers guarding the body to evacuate, and sent some capable scouts to spy secretly to see who dared to light a fire on the straw pile and catch him at once.

My nephew was angry because he couldn't get his uncle's body back. Seeing the king playing tricks again, he immediately thought of a way to deal with it. He led a group of people, pretending to be torch dancers, all the way into the city. The more they danced, the happier they were, the more energetic they danced, and attracted many audiences. Those detectives also forgot their task and just watched them dance. While no one was looking, my nephew secretly danced his torch to the haystack. The haystack suddenly caught fire and people fled in panic. By the time the detective wakes up, the torch dancer should have gone somewhere.

The detective hurried to report to the king, who was furious and ordered more people to guard it strictly to see who dared to collect the ashes. The king said bitterly, "the man who came up to collect the ashes must be a scheming thief." I will not spare him if I catch him. "

That night, my nephew took a lot of good wine to the crossroads to sell. The keeper of the ashes was tired for several days, and his mouth watered at the sight of good wine, so there was no need to catch thieves. One by one drunk stagger, as drunk as a fiddler. My nephew tied these drunken soldiers with his hands behind his back, and then carefully put my uncle's ashes in an empty wine bottle and left the city.

The next day, the king received a report and was furious: "This thief is so cunning! Let him succeed again and again. I'm going to do a foolproof set this time and see where he escapes! "

The king ordered a beautiful house to be built in the garden by the river, and sent many soldiers to guard it closely, and then let his beautiful daughter live in Yu Pei with all her gold ornaments. The king said to his daughter, "If someone comes, you must hold on and shout loudly, so that the thief will be caught." When the arrangement was properly arranged, the king was secretly pleased: "The princess is so beautiful and wearing priceless jewels, and the hateful thief will definitely take the bait."

A few days later, my nephew really came to the river at midnight. He first put down a piece of wood from the upper reaches of the river. The wood tinkled down the river. At first, the guards thought it was a monster, so they lit the torch, but only saw a big wood floating up and down in the water, so forget it. After a while, the nephew put down another big piece of wood, and the soldiers were afraid again. But after a few times, they are not surprised, just want to sleep by themselves. So my nephew sneaked in with a big piece of wood and climbed into the house.

When the princess woke up, she found a strange man lying beside her and immediately grabbed his clothes. My nephew smiled and said, "What's the use of grabbing my clothes? You grab my arm, so I can't run away? " When the princess heard the reason, she took off her clothes, hugged her arms and shouted at the same time. What she didn't know was that she caught a dead arm brought by her nephew in advance. Seeing the princess holding the dead man's arm tightly, the nephew turned over from the window and swam away. The guards came when they heard the princess's cry, without even looking at anyone.

After dawn, the princess and the soldiers reported to the king what happened at night. The king shook his head and sighed, "This thief is so clever, chinese odyssey! No matter how hard I try, I can't catch him. What can I do? "

Soon after, the princess became pregnant. 1At the end of 0, a chubby boy was born. The king has another plan. He ordered the wet nurse to walk around the city with her child in her arms, saying, "If someone comes to kiss the child, you should catch him."

The nurse followed the king's orders and walked around the city with her child in her arms. Most of the day passed and no one came to kiss the child. The child is hungry and crying, and the wet nurse is hungry. At this time, I happened to meet a cake seller, and the wet nurse went up to buy cakes. Unexpectedly, this cake seller is a nephew. While teasing the child's mouth with a cake, he kissed the child's delicate face.

The wet nurse returned to the palace and said to the king, "I've been wandering around the city all day, and no one has come to kiss the child." It's just that when I was buying a cake, the cake seller looked at the cute children and kissed them. The king quickly asked, "Did you catch the cake seller?" The wet nurse said, "The child cried and I was hungry, so I went to buy his cake. People just kissed us when they gave us the cake, not a thief. Why should I arrest him? " The king has nothing to answer. So the king asked the wet nurse to continue to walk around the city with her children and sent several people to follow him. He ordered, "Whoever comes near the child this time, you should arrest him at once. "

This time, my nephew came with a few bottles of wine. As soon as he saw the wet nurse and others, he invited them to drink. The wet nurse and others can't stand the nephew's kind persuasion and the temptation of wine, so they sit down and propose a toast to you. I drank cup by cup, and I couldn't help getting drunk. The nephew took the opportunity to slip away with his son. The nurse and others woke up after drinking and found the child gone. Knowing that he had been cheated, he was so scared that he rolled and crawled and reported to the king. When the king heard their report, he was very angry. He swore, "You idiots know that you are greedy for cat urine. Instead of catching the thief's head, you let him take the child away. I am so angry! "

The nephew took his son to the capital of a neighboring country and went to the palace to meet the king. When the king met him, he found him modest, well-spoken, polite, well-informed and clever. The king was so happy that he kept him and made him a minister. One day, the king said, "in our country, no one is as clever and witty as you." You must be very happy that I want to marry my daughter to you! " The nephew quickly replied, "I really don't deserve your good." If the king can really be cold to me, I hope to hire a princess from a certain country for me. "The king really agreed, and immediately sent someone to the country where his nephew once lived to propose to the king who vowed to catch a thief, saying that he had a prince and hoped to marry a beautiful princess.

The princess's father, the old king, received the messenger and immediately agreed to this marriage. But then he thought, "Did a thief do this? That hateful guy is so cunning that he always lets us fall for it. Could it be that he set a trap again this time to lie to my daughter, the mother of his child? " After thinking about it, he immediately sent an envoy to a neighboring country and asked, "Since your prince wants to marry my daughter, he must come and marry her himself."

My nephew got the news and thought, "If I really go to the wedding in person, I will be caught by the king." What shall we do? He thought for a while and came up with a countermeasure. He ran to the king who sheltered himself and said, "If your Majesty decides to send me to meet the bride personally, please give me 500 cavalry, all of whom must be strong to show the prestige of our country before I can go." The king agreed to his request.

On the wedding day, my nephew put on his new holiday costume, with 250 cavalry as the leader and 250 cavalry as the defender, and walked alone in the middle of the team. The wedding procession marched to the princess's country. Before arriving at the palace, the nephew immediately controlled the reins and greeted the king and princess without dismounting and saluting. Seeing this scene, the king guessed eight or nine points in his heart and could not help but admire the boy's courage and intelligence from the bottom of his heart. So he took the princess to the middle of the wedding procession, took his nephew's hand and asked, "Please tell me the truth. I tried to catch it several times, didn't I?" The nephew smiled and immediately saluted: "Yes, that's me!" "The king sighed and said sincerely," No one in the world is smarter than you. All right! I will marry my daughter to you. "

The nephew married the princess, and the family of three finally got together.

-According to Volume II of the Bible

Fairy's eyes

Once upon a time, after entering the mountains to learn Taoism, there was a man who won the five immortals' sacred fruit. So this man has a pair of eyes and can see everything. He can also catch a glimpse of all the treasures, gold and silver buried underground. When the king learned of this man's magical power, he was very excited and couldn't wait to call him to help him at once. He said to the minister beside him, "I should feel lucky to have such a man of God in our country." Can you come up with any clever plan to let him live in our country instead of going elsewhere and find more and more underground treasures for me? "

A stupid minister, after listening to the king's words, immediately went to the place where the man of God lived, and managed to gouge out his eyes. He proudly held the two eyes of the man of God for your majesty and told him as a tribute: "Your majesty, I took out the eyes of the fairy according to your instructions." From then on, he can only live in our country and can't go anywhere else. After listening to Yu Gong's report, the king felt ironic: "I want this immortal to live in our country for a long time because he can find all the buried treasures for me." "Now you ruined his eyes. What is the use of living in our country for a long time? ! "

This foolish minister is really ridiculous, which not only makes the immortal lose the eye of the Taoist priest, but also makes the king gain nothing.

-According to Bai Yujing.

Female laity

In ancient India, there was a female layman who was a faithful follower of Buddhism. Although she didn't become a monk, she was very proficient in Buddhist teachings and spells and practiced and studied from time to time. She is a layman, with deep attainments and great fame.

One day, a female layman traveled to Susaro and lived in Luoyuan, buddhist nun, a Brahman in Gayayan.

Several disciples of Brahman came back begging for food and firewood. When they entered Luoyuan, they saw a female layman sitting under a tree, her face was peaceful and Shu Lang, her heart was absorbed, and she looked peaceful, quiet and detached. Surprised and envious, the disciples quickly came forward to salute and begged the female layman for advice.

So the woman lay down a conversation with these young disciples, Kan Kan. She said that in ancient times, telling the present, preaching and encouraging them to devote themselves to research and study will get the true meaning.

The female layman speaks beautifully and thoroughly. Several disciples nodded frequently, convinced. They have never heard such a sincere teaching, such a profound and simple thing, and they are glad that they have such an opportunity to show more respect and gratitude to female laymen.

After listening to the instructions, the disciples reluctantly bid farewell to the female layman, picked up firewood, and happily went to buddhist nun to answer the Brahman's words.

As soon as they saw Master, they rushed to say, "Master, Master, we have a shaman named Gotama in Luoyuan. He is a man of great skill! She is particularly good at explaining things, and she is very considerate. Every word speaks to people's hearts and hits our confusion. It's really like that sentence: it's better to study for ten years than to listen to you! "

When Brahmani saw his disciples admiring the new female monk so happily, his heart was moved. He ordered, "Since she is so profound and powerful, so worthy of your advice and so excellent, please tell her for me and invite her to the monastery for dinner tomorrow."

When the disciples heard this, they were very surprised. This is exactly what they wanted. They almost cried out for joy. A disciple with fast legs hurried to Luoyuan to preach Master's words.

After listening to the invitation conveyed by the disciple, the female layman still sat quietly, did not get up, and was silent. Disciples were in high spirits, and when they saw the female layman, they said they wouldn't go or not. Although she was a little puzzled, she was afraid that she wouldn't agree. Without a reply from the female layman, she rushed to buddhist nun to report to Master that the female layman had accepted the invitation and would come tomorrow.

Early the next morning, the Brahman was sitting in the purlin, and the door of the purlin was open. Far away, she saw a female layman in plain clothes, walking towards buddhist nun with a alms bowl. ...

Brahman asked his disciples to add a seat to the female layman, and then ordered to serve food. A table of food is enough to entertain guests. However, Brahmins only care about their own food and drink. He is neither humble nor caring for the female head of the household. It seems that he doesn't regard her as his "distinguished guest" and has no respect for his host. The disciples looked at each other, and no one dared to say more or move more. Women heads of households should naturally take care of themselves.

After dinner, the female layman got up and went out to wash her face, cleaned the alms bowl, and then went back to the house and sat in her special seat. Look at Brahmani, lying comfortably and contentedly on the high bed, putting his shoes aside and covering his head with the corners of his clothes, posing as a lazy and careless gesture. She cocked her head and asked the housemaid calmly, "There are some things we don't understand and we want to ask you. My disciples are full of praise for your eloquence and wisdom. I wonder if you have time to answer for us? "

Looking at Brahmani's arrogance, the female layman calmly replied: "Sisters have something to ask. I will try my best to answer. Why are you so polite? " But, I'm afraid today is not the time? "

Say that finish, she got up to leave. Brahmani leaned back on the bed, made a farewell gesture and watched her go out. Disciples don't know what Master really wants to do, and they all feel very uncomfortable and uncomfortable.

The next day, the disciples went out to cut wood. On my way home, I went to Luoyuan to listen to the female lay preacher. Returning to buddhist nun is like reporting to Master on the spot. Brahman invited female laymen to dine in buddhist nun. In this way, I went to eat four times in a row.

By the fifth time, the Brahmin finally said that he would invite female laymen to buddhist nun to give lectures. But the female laity still said the original words-"Not yet."