Long ago, the Buddha-to-be happened to be born as a mouse. He was the leader of a
large group of mice, and he was very large, as big as a small piglet. A cat used to
roam nearby, and spotted the group of mice. He decided to find a way to make a
meal of them. He took on the pose of a holy ascetic, standing on one foot, facing the
sun, breathing in the air. When the chief of the mice saw him, he approached and
asked, “What is your name?” “I am called the Holy One,” said the cat. “Why do you
stand on one foot?” “Because the earth cannot support all four of my feet.” “Why do
you have your mouth open?” asked the mouse. “I do not eat food, but only the
wind,” he replied. “And why do you face the burning sun?” “I am paying honour to
the Sun-god,” replied the cat.
“He must be very holy,” thought the mouse, and so every day he brought his
company of mice to pay respects to the cat. And every day, the last mouse to leave
was caught by the cat and eaten, without the other mice noticing.
After some time, the chief mouse noticed the reduction in size of his company of
mice. He began to suspect the cat, and so the next time the mice visited the cat, he
made sure he was the last to leave. The cat sprang forward to catch him, but the
chief mouse saw him coming and jumped up to bite his neck. “So this is your holy
practice is it?” he cried out. Then he severed the cat’s neck and killed him, and all
the mice came and ate him up with a crunch crunch crunch. Or at least I have heard
that the first ones got meat, but those who were at the back got none, for it was all
gone.
The Buddha gave his teaching and explained the connection of the births: “At that time I was
the leader of the mice, and the cheating monk was the cat.”
https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=...scetic&f=false