經律異相 48.36

48.36

Anciently, there was a crow named Koji (in the language of Liang, "red-beaked crow"), who roamed in a grove and gave birth to and reared several fledglings in a tree. Koji was closely intimate with a monkey. At that time, among the trees was a venomous snake. Watching for when the crow was away, it devoured all of Koji's fledglings without leaving a single one. Losing her fledglings, Koji wailed and shrieked in grief, not knowing where they were. Thinking carefully, she knew the snake had devoured them. The monkey returned, saw her, and asked what had happened. She replied: "A snake devoured my fledglings, leaving none behind." The monkey said: "I shall avenge them." Then, when the venomous snake was moving, the monkey circled in front of it. The enraged snake coiled around the monkey. The monkey grabbed its head and dragged it onto a rock, smashing it to death. Casting it aside, he returned. Koji leaped for joy. (Extracted from the Sūtra of the Parable of the Red-Beaked Crow).