118 Vattaka Jātaka (JTA 1.46) The Quail’s Strategy Ashin Sarana:
Valentina’s drawing While staying at Jetavana, the Buddha told the story about the son of a rich man, called young Uttara. When his friends came of age, they all got married, but young Uttara had no interest in woman, so one year during the Kattika festival, a companion suggested that they find a charming girl for him, but he insisted that he did not want a girlfriend. Refusing to take his protestations seriously, his friends found a beautiful young woman and told her to find his room and dropped her off at his house, so she went directly to his room and started dancing seductively around the room, but young Uttara wanted her to leave, so he gave her money, and she left. At the end of the week, the festival was over, but the young woman did not return to her home, so her mother became very worried and asked young Utarra’s friends where her daughter was, but they did not know, so they asked young Uttara. He said that he does not know where she went after he had given her money to leave, but the girl’s mother did not believe this story so she took young Uttara to the king, and the king could not believe his story either, so he told young Uttara that he either tells where she is or get executed. But young Uttara honestly did not know where she was, so he was taken away, and when he was marching to his doom, he thought to himself that if, by some chance, he survives, he will renounce the world and become a bhikkhu under the great Gotama. But at that moment, the young girl came and began running to tell everyone that he was innocent. He survived and he eventually became a bhikkhu, and one day, bhikkhus were talking about young Uttara, and said that in his hour of danger, he had recognized the excellence of the Dhamma and had wisely resolved to give up the world for its sake. The buddha heard this conversation and explained the story of the wise of former times. Long, long ago, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Baranasi, there was a clever fowler, who went into the forest and caught many birds in his trap. He carried them home, and put them in comfortable cages, and fed them so they became fat, then would sell them. In a flock of quails that the fowler had caught one day, there was a clever young bird who realized that if he ate like the others, he would be sold and that would be the end of him. Every day, he continued to fast and became thinner and thinner. Continuing this, he told other quails, “The thoughtless are lost”, “but thoughtfulness saved me from bondage and death.” Having concluded this story, the Buddha identified as the quail that escaped death.Kids’ drawing
