Once upon a time in the reign of Brahmadatta, king of Benares, the Bodhisatta came to life as a golden gosling, and when he came to be a full-grown goose, he lived on a golden cave, in the cittakuta mountain in the Himalaya region, and used to go constantly and eat the wild paddy that grew on a natural lake. On the way by which he went to and fro was a big Judas tree. Both in going and returning, he would always stop and rest there. So a friendship sprang up between him and the divinity that dwelt in that tree. By and bye a certain fowl, after eating the ripe fruit of a banyan, came and perched on the Judas tree, and dropped its excrement into the fork of it.

Then there sprang up a young banyan, which grew to the height of four inches and was bright with red shoots and greenery. The royal goose, on seeing this, addressed the guardian deity of the tree and said, “My good friend, every tree on which a banyan shoot springs up is destroyed by its growth. Do not suffer this to grow, or it will destroy your place of abode. Go back at once, and root it up and throw it away. One ought to suspect that which justifies suspicion.”

On hearing this the tree-god, not heeding his words, said, “Let it grow; I will tend it with a parent’s love.”

Then the goose said: “It is a cursed shoot; I do not like this; I am going.”

With these words the royal goose spread out his wings and made straight for mount Cittakuta. The Goose never returned. By and bye the banyan shoot grew up. This tree also had its guardian deity. And in its growth, it broke down the Judas tree, and with a branch the abode of the tree-god also fell. At this moment reflecting on the words of the royal goose, the tree-god thought, “The king of the geese foresaw this danger in the future and warned me of it, but I did not hear his words.”

Thus did the banyan, as it grew up, break down all the Judas tree and reduce it to a mere stump, and the dwelling place of the tree-god wholly disappeared.

Wise men abhor the parasitic thing

That chokes the form to which it loves to cling.

The wise, suspecting danger from the weed,

Destroy the root before it comes to seed.