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King Brahmadatta was very talkative, and
his minister, the Bodhisatta, sought an opportunity of admonishing him. This
opportunity occurred while they were watching a crow's nest in which a cuckoo
had laid an egg. The crow watched over it and fed the young cuckoo after its
birth. One day the cuckoo cried before it was grown up, and the crow killed it
and threw it away. The king inquired of the Bodhisatta the reason for this, and
he explained that the garrulous who talk in and out of season meet with a
similar fate. The king was cured of his evil habit.
The story was told in reference to
Kokālika, who is identified with the young cuckoo. J. iii.102f

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