Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c36.2464

v2.c36.2464

Sālittaka Jātaka (No. 107).—The king of Benares once had a very talkative chaplain. Outside the city gate was a cripple, who lived under a banyan tree, so clever that he could cut the leaves of the tree into various shapes by throwing stones at them. The king, seeing him, engaged his services to cure his chaplain. The cripple obtained a pea-shooter filled with dry goat’s dung, and, sitting behind a curtain with a hole in it, he shot pellets of dung into the mouth of the chaplain as he talked away ceaselessly. When half a peck had thus been shot, the king revealed the plot to the chaplain and advised an emetic. The chaplain realized his folly and did not offend again. The cripple was given four villages, bringing in four thousand a year.