[1] "Our old friend," etc. – The Master told this tale while dwelling in Jetavana, concerning a greedy Brother. The occasion is as above.

Once upon a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was a pigeon and lived in a nest-basket in the kitchen of a Benares merchant. A crow became intimate with him and lived there also. Here the story is to be expanded. The cook pulled out the crow's feathers and sprinkled him with flour, then piercing a cowrie he hung it on the crow's neck and threw him into a basket. The Bodhisatta came from the wood, and seeing him made a jest and spoke the first stanza: –

Our old friend! look at him!

A jewel bright he wears;

His beard in gallant trim,

How gay our friend appears!

[315] The crow hearing him spoke the second stanza: –

My nails and hair had grown so fast,

They hampered me in all I did:

A barber came along at last,

And of superfluous hair I'm rid.

Then the Bodhisatta spoke the third stanza: –

Granted you got a barber then,

Who has cropped your hair so well:

Round your neck, will you explain,

What's that tinkling like a bell?

Then the crow uttered two stanzas: –

Men of fashion wear a gem

Round the neck: it's often done:

I am imitating them:

Don't suppose it's just for fun.

If you're really envious

Of my beard that's trimmed so true:

I can get you barbered thus;

You may have the jewel too.

The Bodhisatta hearing him spoke the sixth stanza: –

Nay, ’tis you they best become,

Gem and beard that's trimmed so true.

I find your presence troublesome:

I go with a good-day to you.

[316] With these words he flew up and went elsewhere; and the crow died then and there.

After the lesson, the Master declared the Truths and identified the Birth: – After the Truths, the greedy Brother was established in the fruition of the Third Path: "At that time the crow was the greedy Brother, the pigeon was myself."