A landowner of Benares had given one thousand to some one and had died before recovering it. His wife, lying on her deathbed, asked her son to get it for her while she was yet alive. He went and recovered the money; but while he was away his mother died, and, because of her great love for him, was born as a jackal. She tried to prevent him from entering a wood infested with robbers, headed by the Bodhisatta, but the man did not understand what the jackal said and kept on driving her away. A crane, flying overhead, cried out to the robbers, announcing the lad's approach, but he, taking it to be a bird of good omen, saluted it. The Bodhisatta heard both sounds, and when his band captured the man, he told him that he did not know how to distinguish between friend and foe and sent him off with a warning.
The story was told in reference to two of the Chabbaggiyā, Pandu and Lohitaka. They questioned the Buddha's teachings on certain points and encouraged others to do the same, the result being quarrel and strife. The Buddha sent for them and told them that this was a foolish policy; they did not know what was good for them. J.ii.387 90.