Once upon a time, when Videha was reigning at Mithila, the Bodhisatta became a son of his Queen. He grew up in due course, and was educated at Takkasila; and on his father’s death he inherited his kingdom.

At that time, king of the Golden Geese paired with a Crow at the feeding grounds and to them was born a son. He was like neither mother nor father.

He was all dingy blue black and accordingly they called him Dingy. The Goose king often visited his son; and besides, he had two other sons, geese like himself. These sons asked, “Where are you goin frequently?” He said, “My sons! I have a mate, a Crow, and she has given me a son; his name is Dingy. I am going to visit him.”

“Where do they live?” they asked.

“On a palm top near Mithila in the kingdom of Videha.”

They said, “Father! Where there are men, there is fear and peril. Don’t go there; let us go and fetch him to you.”

So they took a stick, and perched Dingy upon it; then catching the ends in their beaks, they flew over the city of Mithila.

At that moment, King Videha, sitting in a magnificent carriage drawn by a team of four milk white horses was going around the city. Dingy saw him, and he thought, “What is the difference between King Videha and me? He is riding in in a chariot drawn by four white horses; and I am carried in a vehicle drawn by a pair of Geese.” He told the same to the geese.

These words made the Geese angry. Their first thought was “Let us drop him here, and leave him!” But then again they thought “What will our father say!” So out of fear, they brought the creature to their father, and recounted all that he had done. The father grew angry when he heard it; He said, “What! are you my son? you make yourself master over them, and treat them like horses in a carriage? You don’t know your measure. This is no place for you; get you back to your mother!”

With this censure, he asked his sons convey the bird to the dunghill outside the city of Mithila and so they did.