Somewhere in the jungle, there grew a Shami tree. On its long branches, a pair of sparrows had made their home.
One day, in winter, whilst the pair was sitting happily together, a light rain began to fall.
After some time, a monkey, battered by the strong winds, came and stood under the tree, his teeth chattering with cold.
When the female sparrow saw him in this state, she said to the monkey, “With your hands and feet, you look like a human being. So why don’t you make a home for yourself?”
The monkey got angry and shouted, “Why don’t you shut your mouth, you slut!” And then he said to himself, “What a cheek this female bird has, giving me advice! This insolent harlot thinks she is an educated woman and won’t stop yapping. She makes me want to kill her!”
Then the monkey said, “Why should you worry, for they say: ‘You should only give advice to someone who specifically asks for it, Otherwise, it’s like crying in the wilderness.'”
Without much ado, the monkey climbed up the tree and tore up the nest in a thousand pieces.
“And so,” continued Karataka, “you shouldn’t give advice to just anyone. And in the same way,” he went on, “my good advice had no effect on you, but it’s not your fault, for: ‘Only the good and not the bad, Derive benefit from good advice. Just as a bright light put into a dark, upturned pot Becomes useless, So advice given to an undeserving person, Will be fruitless and ineffectual.'”
“The trouble with you is, you think yourself too clever. Don’t you know the story of Dharmabuddhi and Papabuddhi? Because the son was much too clever, his father was nearly suffocated to death by the smoke!”
“How was that?” asked Damanaka.
And Karataka told: THE STORY OF DHARMABUDDHI AND PAPABUDDHI
