Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c12.2781

v1.c12.2781

Kusanāḷi Jātaka (No. 121).—The Bodhisatta was born as a sprite, in a clump of *kusa*-grass. Hard by was a *mukkhaka*-tree in which lived a Tree-sprite. One day the king’s carpenter, looking for a suitable pillar for the king’s one-pillared palace, reluctantly decided to fell the *mukkhaka*. Learning of the Tree-sprite’s imminent danger, the Bodhisatta assumed the shape of a chameleon and deceived the carpenter in such a way that he saw the *mukkhaka* as all rotten and of no use for his purpose.