Next the other two animals, in the same way as before, asked the monkey. He said: “Friends, when I was a young monkey, I used to sit on the earth, extend my neck, and eat the tips of the shoots of this banyan tree. Thus I have known it since it was very small.”
Finally the other two animals, in the same way as before, asked the partridge. He said: “Friends, in former times, in such-and-such a place, grew a huge banyan tree. I ate its fruits and dropped its seed in this place. From that sprang this tree. Thus I know this tree from the time when it had not yet sprouted. Therefore I am older than you.” Thus spoke the partridge.
Thereupon the monkey and the elephant said to the wise partridge: “Master, you are older than we. Henceforth to you will we offer respect, reverence, veneration, salutation, and honor; to you will we offer respectful greeting, rising on meeting, homage with joined hands, and proper courtesy; in your admonitions will we abide steadfast. From this time forth, therefore, be good enough to give us admonition and needed instruction.”
From that time forth the partridge gave them admonition, established them in the Precepts, and himself also took upon himself the Precepts. And those three animals, established in the Precepts, showed respect and deference for each other, and had a common life. When their life was come to an end, they attained the goal of a heavenly world. The taking upon themselves by these three animals of the Precepts was called the Holy Life of the Partridge.
“For, monks, those animals lived in respect and deference for each other. Why is it that you, who have retired from the world under a Doctrine and Discipline so well taught, do not live in respect and deference for each other?”
When the Teacher had thus related this parable, he assumed the prerogative of One Supremely Enlightened and uttered the following stanza:
Men versed in the Law who honor the aged
Have praise even in this life
And in the next life are in bliss.
When the Teacher had thus extolled the practice of honoring the oldest, he joined the connection and identified the personages in the Birth-story as follows: “At that time the elephant was one of my disciples, the monkey was another, but the wise partridge was I myself.”