Jataka 394
Viṭṭakā Jātaka
The Quail
as told by Eric Van Horn
originally translated by H.T. Francis and R.A. Neil, Cambridge University
originally edited by Professor Edward Byles Cowell, Cambridge University
This is a lovely little story in which a chubby quail explains to a greedy crow that the reason he is fat is not because of what he eats. It is because he has a peaceful and contented mind.
“Oil and butter.” The Master told this story while he was living at Jetavana. It is about a greedy monk. Discovering that he was greedy, the Master said to him, “This is not the first time that you are greedy. You were like this once before in Benares. You were not satisfied with the carcasses of elephants, oxen, horses and men. And in hopes of getting better food, you went to the forest.” And then he told this story from the past.
Once upon a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was born as a quail. He lived in the forest on rough grass and seeds. At the time in Benares there was a greedy crow who—not content with the carcasses of elephants and other animals—went to the forest in hopes of finding better food. One day he was eating wild fruits. There he saw the Bodhisatta and thought, “This quail is very fat. He must eat sweet food. I will ask him about his food. Then I will eat it and become fat myself.”
So he perched on a bough above the Bodhisatta. The Bodhisatta, without being asked, greeted him and spoke the first stanza:
Oil and butter are your victuals, dear friend. Poor your food, although.
Tell me then what is the reason of your leanness, master crow.
Hearing his words the crow spoke three stanzas:
I dwell in midst of many foes, my heart goes pit-a-pat.
In terror as I seek my food, how can a crow be fat?
Crows spend their lives in fear, their wits for mischief ever keen,
The bits they pick are not enough. Good quail, that's why I’m lean.
Rough grass and seeds are all your food, there’s little richness there,
Then tell me why you’re fat, good quail, on such a scanty fare.
The Bodhisatta—hearing him speak these stanzas—explained the reason for his fatness:
I have content and easy mind, short distances to go,
I live on anything I get, and so I’m fat, good crow.
Content of mind, and happiness with little care of heart,
A standard easily attained, that life’s the better part.
Figure: That fat and happy quail
The lesson having ended, the Master taught the Four Noble Truths. At the end of the teaching the monk was established in the fruition of the First Path (stream-entry). Then the master identified the birth: “At that time the crow was the greedy monk, and I was the quail.”
