Jataka 294
Jambu Khādaka Jātaka
Feeding on the Rose Apple Tree
as told by Eric Van Horn
originally translated by William Henry Denham Rouse, Cambridge University
originally edited by Professor Edward Byles Cowell, Cambridge University
This is a story about flattery, which in this case is not a good thing!
“Who is it sits?” The Master told this story at the Bamboo Grove (Veluvana). It is about Devadatta and Kokālika. At the time when Devadatta began to lose his prestige and his reputation, Kokālika went from house to house, saying, “Elder Devadatta is born of the line of the First Great King, of the royal stock of Okkāka (a famous king), by an uninterrupted noble descent. He is versed in all the scriptures, full of spiritual attainment, sweet of speech, a preacher of the law. Give to the Elder. Help him!” In these words he praised Devadatta.
Conversely, Devadatta praised Kokālika, in words such as these: “Kokālika comes from a northern brahmin family. He follows the holy life. He is learned in the Dharma, a preacher of the law. Give to Kokālika. Help him!”
So they went about praising each other and receiving almsfood in different houses.
One day the brothers began to talk about it in the Dharma Hall. “Friend, Devadatta and Kokālika go about praising each other for virtues they do not have and in so doing they receive almsfood.” The Master came in, and asked what they were discussing as they sat there. They told him. He said, “Monks, this is not the first time that these men have gotten food by praising each other. Long ago they did the same.” And he told them this story from the past.
Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was the King of Benares, the Bodhisatta became a tree sprite in a certain rose apple grove. A crow perched on a branch of his tree and began to eat the fruit. Then along came a jackal. He looked up and saw the crow. He thought, “If I flatter this creature, perhaps I will get some of the fruit to eat!” So in flattery he repeated the first stanza:
“Who is it sits in a rose apple tree—
Sweet singer! whose voice trickles gently to me?
Like a young peacock she coos with soft grace,
And ever sits still in her place.”
The crow, likewise, praised the jackal with the second stanza:
“He that is noble in breeding and birth
Can praise others’ breeding, knows what they are worth.
Like a young tiger thou seems to be:
Come, eat, sir, what I give to thee!”
With these words she shook the branch and made some fruit drop.
Then the spirit of the tree, beholding these two eating after flattering each other, repeated the third stanza:
“Liars foregather, I very well know.
Here, for example, a carrion crow,
And corpse-eating jackal, with meaningless clatter
Proceed one another to flatter!”
After repeating this stanza, the tree sprite—assuming a fearful shape—scared them both away.
Figure: Unimpressed with flattery
When the Master had ended this discourse, he summed up the birth tale: “At that time the jackal was Devadatta, the crow was Kokālika, and I was the spirit of the tree.”
