432 Padakusalamānava Jātaka (JTA 168) Footprints in the Air Ashin Sarana:
Valentina’s drawing There was a son who could trace his father’s footprints and he traced it to Jetavana so the Buddha told a story of the past. Long ago, there was a yakkhini who wasn’t a human and had a human son and husband. The son and husband later escaped the yakkhini’s territory because they couldn’t live with one who is not a human so the yakkhini was very sad and gave her son a charm which will benefit him later on, and then she died. The son and husband went to Baranasi and the son started working for the king as a footprint tracker so one day the king and his advisor decided to test him by zigzagging around the palace and climbing a ladder then going to a river and hiding jewels there. He announced that jewels have been stolen so the young man successfully found them. The king wanted to get out of the boy who the thief was, but the boy knew that danger would arrive to the king and the advisor if he said they were the thieves, so the boy told him lots of stories with the same meanings to try and get him to understand. The king didn’t understand and just wanted to know badly so the boy announced who the thieves were publicly, and the king and his advisor got beaten to death.Kids’ drawing
