Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c26.108

v2.c26.108

One day the youth saw a snake, and on being asked by the Bodhisatta how it looked, he answered, “like the shaft of a plough” (naṅgalīsa). The Bodhisatta thought the simile good, but when it was used again about an elephant, a sugar-cane, molasses and even curds and milk, he realized that the boy was hopeless. The story was told in reference to Lāḷudāyī, who never made an appropriate remark. Lāḷudāyī is identified with the youth.¹