Being so superstitious, all those in the hall agreed that this must be done, or the god would surely punish the king and the kingdom.

The king thought, "Ah, such is the power of superstition that these people have lost all common sense! LibabyThey cannot see that, since the first training step is to give up killing, if I sacrificed one of my subjects, I would be next on the altar!

 And such is the power of superstition that I could make such a promise, and never have to carry it out!"

So, with full confidence in the power of superstition, the king said to the leading citizens, "Go into all the kingdom and announce the promise I made to the god.

 Then proclaim that the first one-thousand who break any of the training steps will have the honor of being sacrificed, to keep the king's promise."

Lo and behold, the people of Benares became famous for carefully practicing the Five Training Steps.

 And the good king, who knew his subjects so well, sacrificed no one.

The moral is: Sacrifice your own wrong doing, not some helpless animal.