A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

The Bodisat, whose accumulated merits remain incomplete, is reborn as a woodpecker. It finds a lion suffering because a bone is caught between its teeth and offers help in exchange for future assistance. Waiting until the lion sleeps with open jaws, the bird examines the bone and extracts it with continued fluttering. The relieved lion repeats its promise. Later the woodpecker narrowly escapes a falcon and approaches hungry, asking for meat. The lion instead says that surviving entry between its teeth should be reward enough. The bird answers with a verse condemning benefits bestowed on the ungrateful; no revenge, second extraction or death of the lion follows.

Bird healer denied the reward promised by a lionBuddhist narrative witness
01

Origins & earliest records

Indian Buddhist narrative preserved in Tibetan translation

02

Records & interpretation

Whole chapter and its footnotes directly read in the digitized1906 edition.

In the literature

“a bone stuck fast between its teeth”
Anonymous Buddhist narrative tradition; F. Anton von Schiefner and W.R.S.Ralston, mediated translators · Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources — XXVII The Ungrateful Lion
XXVII The Ungrateful Lion, hosted printed-page marker311 · W.R.S.Ralston, English from Schiefner’s German Tibetan translation

The lion’s trouble before the woodpecker’s intervention; not a bone lodged in its throat.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources

    F. Anton von Schiefner, Tibetan-to-German translator; W. R. S. Ralston, English translator · 1906

    XXVII, The Ungrateful Lion, pp. 311–312; note cites Kah-gyur iv. f. 181

  2. 02

    Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources — XXVII The Ungrateful Lion

    Anonymous Buddhist narrative tradition; F. Anton von Schiefner and W.R.S.Ralston, mediated translators · 1906

    Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1906, title-page transcription independently checked. Tibetan Kah-gyur to German by F. Anton von Schiefner, then German to English by W.R.S.Ralston. Complete selected chaptersXX288–290 andXXII–XXVIII296–313 with all notes independently read; source-language originals not collated.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

Direct primary record

Schiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources (London, 1906)

XXVII, The Ungrateful Lion. XXVII, The Ungrateful Lion, pp. 311–312; note cites Kah-gyur iv. f. 181

Complete chapter and all notes read. Translation’s canonical locator retained; original Tibetan not independently inspected. Actual endings, explicit identities and comparative material kept separate, with no death/kinship/anatomy inferred beyond the telling.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources

Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1906, title-page transcription independently checked. Tibetan Kah-gyur to German by F. Anton von Schiefner, then German to English by W.R.S.Ralston. Complete selected chaptersXX288–290 andXXII–XXVIII296–313 with all notes independently read; source-language originals not collated.

  1. A Bodisat woodpecker removes a bone lodged between a lion’s teeth while the lion sleeps. The relieved lion promises future assistance, but later refuses food to the bird after its narrow escape from a falcon. He treats its earlier survival inside his jaws as sufficient reward. The woodpecker’s closing response condemns benefits given to the ungrateful; no violent revenge follows.

    XXVII The Ungrateful Lion, complete311–312; note Kah-gyuriv.f181

German-mediated historical English translation, not direct Tibetan manuscript inspection. Whole book not claimed read. Page labels are hosted transcription markers, not separate facsimile collation. No ritual, spell formula, verse, medical procedure or modern adaptation copied.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical translation of Buddhist narrativeSchiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales (1906), XXVII, The Ungrateful Lion, pp. 311–312; note cites Kah-gyur iv. f. 181Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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