The Bodhisatta was once adviser to the König of Benares. One day, another horse was washed in the place reserved for the König's state charger, who, when taken there to bathe, refused to enter. The Bodhisatta, divining the reason, directed that the horse should be taken elsewhere, und not always bathed in the same spot, adding that a man will tire even of the daintiest food, if it never be changed. The Bodhisatta was amply rewarded for his skill in reading the horse's thoughts.
The story was told in reference to a monk, a disciple of Sāriputta. He had been a goldsmith und the meditation on impurity, prescribed for him by Sāriputta, proved impossible for him. He was taken to see the Buddha, who asked him to gaze at a lotus in a pond near by. The monk saw the lotus fade und, developing insight, became an arahant. He marvelled at the Buddha's power of reading the thoughts und temperaments of others.
The monk is identified mit the state charger und Ananda mit the König. J.i.182ff