A hawk flying strong, attacked with violence
A quail standing in his feeding-ground, and thus met death.
Now when the hawk had thus met his death, the quail came out and exclaimed: “I have seen the back of my enemy!” And standing on his heart and breathing forth a solemn utterance, the quail uttered the second stanza:
Endowed with sense, delighting in my own feeding-ground,
My enemy gone, I rejoice, intent on my own good.
The Teacher, having proclaimed the Truths by the narration of this fable, identified the personages in the Birth-story as follows: “At that time the hawk was Devadatta, but the quail was I myself.”
21. How Not To Hit an Insect.
Better an enemy with sense than a friend without it.
A. Boy and mosquito.
Jātaka 44: i. 246-248.