One evening after dinner, Prince Siddhartha lay reclining on his couch, his head resting in Yasodhara’s lap. The musicians were playing sweet melodies and the servant girls were whispering and laughing quietly to each other. The evening was like so many the princes had known since moving into the pleasure palaces. But this night he felt a bit restless. Turning to one of his favorite singers, he requested, “Please lull us to sleep with a song. Choose a tune you have never sung for me before.”

The singer graciously agreed and began to make up a new song from the words that floated through her mind all the while accompanying herself on a stringed instrument. She sang of the beauties of the world, of the distant lands where she had travelled as a child, and of golden cities where happy people lived.

The song enchanted the prince and when it was over he asked the singer, “Tell me truly, are there really such beautiful places beyond these garden walls? What kind of lives does the people in the city live? Are there things in this world lovelier than what I have seen in these magnificent palaces? Please, tell me all you know.”

“Oh Prince,” she answered, “surely these palaces of yours are most magnificent, but there are many other beautiful things to be seen in this wide world. There are cities and towns, mountains and valleys, distant lands where people speak strange languages. There are many things that I have seen, and many more that I have only heard about. Your palaces and gardens are indeed beautiful, but there is much to see outside their walls.”