429 Mahāsuka Jātaka (JTA 167) The Withered Fig Tree Ashin Sarana:
May’s drawing There were a flock of parrots who lived in fig trees. They had lots of water. Because of the parrots kings profound contentment, Sakkas throne became hot. Sakka then took the form of a royals goose. Sakka asked questions to the parrot then went away and became human again. Sakka dumped a lot of water from the ganga River over all the stump of the fig tree. The tree stump became very healthy. The parrot king was happy and blessed.Andre Thu’s drawing Once there was a bhikkhu who was instructed by the Buddha to go to a village in Kosala, where it was very comfortable and there was ample alms but soon there was a fire that destroyed all the crops so there were little alms but it was still comfortable. The bhikkhu went to the Buddha and told this and the Buddha told that he should go back and be contented as it was still a very good place, and told a story of a parrot king, who lived in a fig tree. The fig tree soon withered away and the other birds left, but the king still stayed and drank from the Gangese river. Sakka noticed this from his hot chair and decided to test the bird, by completely destroying the tree leaving only the trunk, and the wind blew so the parrot king simply ate the tree dust. Sakka as well as his wife, disguised as gooses, asked why he was still there. He told that this tree had given shelter for him and fruit for his whole life so he decided to stay. Sakka decided to give him any wish and his wish was to restore the tree so the tree was restored and the parrot king ate plenty fruit and water for the rest of his life.Kids’ drawing
