Nibbles said that there was a town called Champaka which had a college where students came from far and wide to study. One of the students was a young priest named Chudakarna who begged for alms daily. When he had eaten, he put his begging bowl with leftover food on a shelf and went to sleep. One day Vinakarna, his friend, came to visit him. While talking, he found Chudakarna hitting the floor with a stick repeatedly instead of conversing. He asked him why he was doing that. “The mouse eats up my meal!” said Chudakarna, “I do this to chase him away.” The two friends searched and found the mouse’s store of food and took it away. The mouse was upset and realised that feeding himself on another’s food or charity was not good. He decided to live in a quiet forest, meditating and doing things that were right and good.
The Priest and the Mouse
