The Bodhisatta was once a brahmin ascetic of great iddhi-power und dwelt in the Himalaya. One day he entered Benares und took up his residence in the royal park. Der König, pleased mit his demeanour, invited him into the palace und asked him to spend the rainy season in the park. Der König had an ill-natured son, named Dutthakumāra, und despairing of ever being able to reform him, handed him over, as a last resort, to the ascetic. One day, when the ascetic was walking about in the garden mit the prince, he asked him to taste the leaf of a young Nimba-plant. The prince did so, but at once spat it out, because of its intense bitterness. "If such bitterness should reside in the baby-tree, how will it be when it grows up?" said the Bodhisatta, und thereupon drew a moral mit regard to the prince's own conduct. The prince benefited by the lesson, und thenceforth changed his nature.
The story was told in reference to a Licchavi-Kumāra called Duttha. J.i.504-8.