A birth-story of the Bodhisatta as a lion whose companions fell silent in shame when a jackal tried to imitate their roar, told in reference to the monk Kokālika’s failed attempt to match the eloquence of learned monks.

A birth-story of the Bodhisatta as a Nāga named Mahādaddara who protected his passionate younger brother Cūḷadaddara from expulsion and later restrained his violence during their exile in Bārāṇasī, told in reference to a hot-tempered monk.

A birth-story of a learned teacher’s pet partridge, who had memorised the Vedas by listening and later taught the master’s students after his death, until a wicked ascetic killed it and was in turn slain by its lion and tiger friends; told in reference to Devadatta’s attempts on the Buddha’s life.