Ja 242 The Story about (the Gnawing) Dog
(Sunakhajātaka)
In the present the monks are talking about a dog who had been brought up near to their monastery, been sold and taken away, but quickly found his way back home. The Buddha told a similar story from the past of a dog who was tied on a leash, but bit through it when his new owners slept and made his escape.
1. Bālo vatāyaṁ sunakho yo varattaṁ na khādati,
Bandhanā ca pamuñceyya, asito ca gharaṁ vaje ti.
The foolish dog does not chew his way through this strap, you could be free from bonds, gnawing you could go home.
In this connection, you could be free means you could be made free; This is the causative form of the same word. or, this is a reading. It seems the commentator is unsure whether to take pamoceyya as a definition, or as an alternative reading.
Gnawing you could go home, having gnawed Asita is a word with many meanings, in this context I take it it is a past participle of the verb asati, eat; but here we need to say something closer to gnawed or chewed through. away satisfactorily, you could go to your own dwelling place.
2. Aṭṭhitaṁ me manasmiṁ me, atho me hadaye kataṁ,
Kālañ-ca paṭikaṅkhāmi yāva passupatū jano ti.
In my mind I am steadfast, I have fixed my heart, I await the time when the folk have fallen asleep.
In this connection, in my mind I am steadfast, you must say this: The determination in my mind is just this, I have fixed my heart, and now all your words have become fixed in my heart.
I await the time means I wait for the time.
When the folk have fallen asleep, when this great people have fallen asleep, will have dropped into sleep, I am waiting for that time. Otherwise: “This dog runs away,” and should a roar arise, from there in the night-time when everyone is lying down, having chewed through this leather strap, I will run away.