Once upon a time, when king Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was his adviser in things spiritual and temporal. Now the king had a son, Padanjali by name, an idle lazy loafer. By and bye the king died. His obsequies over, the courtiers talked of consecrating his son Padanjali to be king. But the Bodhisatta said, “He is a lazy fellow, an idle loafer. Shall we take and consecrate him king?”

The courtiers held a test. In front of the Prince, they made a wrong decision. They adjudged something to the wrong owner, and asked him, “Young sir, do we decide rightly?”

The lad curled his lip.

The Bodhisatta thought: “He is a wise lad, I think. He must know that we have decided wrongly:”

Next day, as before, they arranged a test, but this time judged it rightly. Again they asked him what he thought of it.

Again he curled his lip. Then the Bodhisatta perceived that he was a blind fool.

The courtiers became aware that the young man Padanjali was a fool, and they made the Bodhisatta king.