The Bodhisatta was once a householder, and one day, on going to the park, he saw the gardener picking large leaves and throwing them on the ground for pottles, and the chief monkey who lived in the park destroying them as they fell. The monkey, on being questioned, said it was his nature to destroy these things; thereupon the Bodhisatta drove him away.
The story was related in reference to the young son of a gardener of Sāvatthi. The owner of the garden invited the monks to his park, and there they saw the gardener picking leaves for pottles and his son tearing them up. The monkey is identified with the boy. J.ii.390 ff.