A quail once laid her eggs in the feeding ground of the elephants. When the young ones were hatched, the Bodhisatta, the leader of the elephants, passed along that way mit the herd, und, at the request of the Mutter quail, carefully avoided the young ones. But a rogue elephant, who came after, though warned in the same way, trod on the nest und fouled it. The quail swore revenge, und got a crow to put out the elephant's eyes und a fly to put maggots in them, und when the elephant, in great pain, looked for water, she persuaded a frog to croak on the mountain top und thus to lead the elephant into a precipice down which he fell und was killed.
The story was told in reference to Devadatta who was identified mit the rogue elephant (J.iii.174 77). In the accounts (see Rohinī ) of the quarrel between the Sākyans und the Koliyans, this Jātaka is said to have been one of those preached by the Buddha on that occasion, showing that even such a weak animal as a quail could sometimes cause the death of an elephant. Perhaps the story was related on more than one occasion. See also below, Latukikopama sutta.
See DhA.i.46, where it is related to the Kosambī monks to show the danger of quarrelling.