Selflessness in extreme conditions

[Venkatraman.Chandrasekaran at NOKIA.COM]

> Sri Jaldhar wrote about Vashishta fighting with a Chandala over
> dog meat.
> On the contrast, there is also a story told of a King whose kingdom
> faces dire famine. With very little food left for himself and his family
> to consume he keeps getting several famished visitors, his own
> citizens. Without having the food himself, he continues to part with his
> food little by little until there is food left only for one. Before he 
> consumes the last morsel, a chandala comes begging for food. The
> king willfully parts with his food and starves. In the end the king attains
> a higher state owing to his selflessness even under that extreme
> situation. I am not sure which of the puranas is the source for this
> story.
> 
> In the present day context, many of you may have read about how
> a few survivors of a ship wreckage sustained their life by consuming
> a boy's meat (who had fallen ill and had allowed the others to put him
> to death and consume him).
> 
> -chandrasekaran.