The Partridge, the Monkey and the Elephant
Also known as Tittira Jataka
- 3 minute read
- Ages 6-10
- Jataka Tales
A partridge, a monkey and an elephant lived together under a great banyan tree and were friends, but they argued constantly about who should go first.
Not about anything important. About everything: who drank first, who spoke first, who chose where they went.
They had no way to settle it, because each of them thought it was obvious that it should be him.
The question
One evening the partridge suggested a different approach.
"Instead of arguing about who is best," he said, "let us find out who has been here longest. Whoever knew this tree first should go first. Does anybody object to that?"
Nobody did, because it sounded fair and because each of them privately assumed he would win.
"You first," said the partridge to the elephant.
Three answers
The elephant thought back.
"When I was a calf," he said, "I used to walk over this tree. It was a shrub then and it came up to my belly, and I would step across it. That is how long I have known it."
The monkey said, "When I was small I sat on the ground beside it and ate the topmost shoots without stretching. It was that high."
They both looked at the partridge.
"There was a banyan tree at the far end of this forest," he said, "a very old one, and I ate a fig from it and flew here and dropped the seed on this spot. Then I sat and watched to see whether anything would come up."
There was a pause.
"So this tree," said the elephant.
"Yes."
"Grew from a seed you dropped."
"Yes," said the partridge.
Afterwards
The elephant and the monkey looked at each other and then at the partridge, who was by a very long way the smallest of them, and who had been arguing his corner for months on the basis of nothing but persistence.
And they stood aside for him, and after that he went first.
The story says the three of them lived together for years without another quarrel, and that people who saw them talked about it, because the smallest of the three walking ahead of an elephant is not a thing anyone expects to see.
Moral of the story
They had spent months arguing about who was greatest and settled it in one evening by asking a question that had an actual answer.
Questions and answers
- What did the three friends argue about?
Who should go first in everything, from drinking to choosing where they went.
- What did the partridge suggest instead?
That they find out who had known the banyan tree longest and let that decide.
- Why did the others agree?
It sounded fair, and each of them privately assumed he would win.
- What did the elephant and the monkey remember?
The elephant used to step over the tree as a calf; the monkey ate its topmost shoots from the ground.
- What was the partridge's answer?
That he had eaten a fig elsewhere and dropped the seed on that spot, so the tree had grown from it.
Word meanings
- partridge
- A plump ground-nesting bird.
- banyan
- A large Indian tree that spreads by dropping roots from its branches.
- shoot
- A new young part of a plant.
- persistence
- Continuing firmly despite difficulty.
Questions about The Partridge, the Monkey and the Elephant
What is the moral of this story?
That a disagreement can often be settled by replacing an unanswerable question with an answerable one. 'Who is greatest' has no answer; 'who was here first' does.
Is this story about respecting elders?
In the Buddhist tradition it is usually read that way. It also works as a story about how to end an argument, which is how most children take it.
Is the partridge cheating?
No. He suggests the rule before anyone knows the answer, and he genuinely was there first.
What is this tale called in the original?
The Tittira Jataka, meaning 'the partridge'.