The Bodhisatta was once a caravan leader, and, while travelling along a road which led through a forest, advised his followers to eat neither fruit, flower nor leaf, without first obtaining his leave. Near a village, on the outskirts of the forest, grew a kimpakka-tree, which, in every respect, resembled a mango tree. Some of the men ate of it, and their leader, when he knew this, gave them medicine which cured them. The next day the villagers rushed up to the tree hoping to find all the members of the caravan dead, like those of former caravans, leaving the villagers to rob their goods. They were amazed on finding these men alive.
The story was told in reference to a gardener employed by a squire in Sávatthi. He took some monks round the garden and was amazed to find that they could tell the condition of a mango by looking at the tree. J.i.270 ff.