Once the Bodhisatta was a golden goose living in Cittakūṭa. On his way to and from the Himavā, he rested on a palāsa tree and a friendship sprang up between him and the tree-sprite. One day a bird dropped a banyan seed in the fork of the palāsa tree from which a sapling sprang. The goose advised the sprite to destroy it, but he paid no heed, and by and by the banyan grew up and destroyed the tree.

The story was related by the Buddha to the monks to illustrate that sins should be uprooted however small they may be. J.iii.208 ff.