[262] Then the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus: "Bhikkhus, in times past there was a great banyan tree on the slopes of the Himavanta. Three companions lived in dependence on it: a partridge, a monkey, and a bull elephant. They dwelt without respect or deference for one another, not living in harmony. Then, bhikkhus, this thought occurred to those companions: 'Oh, if only we might know which among us is the eldest by birth! Him we would honour, respect, esteem, and venerate, and by his counsel we would abide.'
Then, bhikkhus, the partridge and the monkey asked the bull elephant: 'You, friend—what is the oldest thing you remember?' 'Friends, when I was a young calf, I used to walk over this banyan tree, keeping it between my thighs, and its topmost shoot brushed my belly. This, friends, is the oldest thing I remember.'
Then, bhikkhus, the partridge and the bull elephant asked the monkey: 'You, friend—what is the oldest thing you remember?' 'Friends, when I was a young one, sitting on the ground I used to eat the topmost shoot of this banyan tree. This, friends, is the oldest thing I remember.'
Then, bhikkhus, the monkey and the bull elephant asked the partridge: 'You, friend—what is the oldest thing you remember?' 'Friends, in such-and-such a place there was a great banyan tree. Having eaten a fruit from it, I voided droppings in this place, and from that this banyan tree grew. Therefore, friends, I am the eldest by birth.'
Then, bhikkhus, the monkey and the bull elephant said to the partridge: 'You, friend, are the eldest of us by birth. We will honour, respect, esteem, and venerate you, and by your counsel we will abide.'
Then, bhikkhus, the partridge established the monkey and the bull elephant in the five precepts (pañca sīlāni), and he himself conducted himself having undertaken the five precepts. Having dwelt with respect and deference for one another, living in harmony, with the breaking up of the body, after death, they were reborn in a good destination, a heavenly world. This, bhikkhus, was the holy life (brahmacariya) known as that of the Partridge (tittiriya)."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.