गंगा नदी से सटा एक पोखरा था, जिसके प्राणी इच्छानुसार नदी का भ्रमण कर वापिस भी आ जाते थे।

जलचर आदि अनेक प्राणियों को दुर्भिक्ष-काल की सूचना पहले ही प्राकृतिक रुप से प्राप्य होती है। अत: जब पोखर-वासियों ने आने वाले सूखे का अन्देशा पाया वे नदी को पलायन कर गये। रह गया तो सिर्फ एक कछुआ क्योंकि उसने सोचा:

"हुआ था मैं पैदा यहाँ
हुआ हूँ मैं युवा यहाँ
रहते आये मेरे माता-पिता भी यहाँ
जाऊँगा मैं फिर यहाँ से कहाँ!"

कुछ ही दिनों में पोखर का पानी सूख गया और वह केवल गीली मिट्टी का दल-दल दिखने लगा। एक दिन एक कुम्हार और उसके मित्र चिकनी मिट्टी की तलाश में वहाँ आये और कुदाल से मिट्टी निकाल-निकाल कर अपनी टोकरियों में रखने लगे। तभी कुम्हार का कुदाल मिट्टी में सने कछुए के सिर पड़ी। तब कछुए को अपनी आसक्ति के दुष्प्रभाव का ज्ञान हुआ और दम तोड़ते उस कछुए ने कहा:- 

"चला जा वहाँ
चैन मिले जहाँ
जैसी भी हो वह जगह 
जमा ले वहीं धूनी
हो वह कोई
वन, गाँव या हो तेरी ही जन्म-भूमि
मिलता हो जहाँ तुझे खुशी का जीवन 
समझ ले वही है तेरा घर और मधुवन"

The potters hitting the tortoise when digging the dried lake for clay. Kachchapa-Jataka, Mathura

O nce there lived a potter in a village on the outskirt of Varanasi. He had a small family. Close to his village was a pond, where dwelt fishes and tortoises. The pond was somewhatan extension of the river Ganga. So, the creatures of the pond could easily come and go to the river. As these creatures could intuit whether or not a season would be rainy or dry, they had known that the following summer would hardly have enough rain. So, they all moved out of the pond and entered the river for the future safety.

In the same pond, there lived a tortoise, which did not leave the pond despite the imminent danger, as it had strong attachment with his abode. He thought,

I was born here

I have grown up here  

My parents have lived here  

Why should I go elsewhere.  

By and by, in the summer the water dried away. So he dug a hole and lay inside.

One day, the potter and his friends came to the pond with spades to dig and collect clay for potteries. Incidentally, they started digging the same ground, where the tortoise had buried itself. Unknowingly, the potter hit its shell and pulled it out as if it was a large lump of clay. The dying tortoise then realised his infatuation and recited,

Go there where you can find happiness, no matter what the place be

A forest or village is the birth-place for thee.

If you find happiness and life there

Must you treat it your home wherever you be.

But his realisation was too late, as he then died.  

The potter then brought the carcass of the tortoise and exhibited it before his fellow villagers. Then narrating the whole story he said that the tortoise met his end because of his attachment. As he was too fond of his home he died. Then he advocated that the people, too, suffer because of attachment, such as

�I have sight; I have hearing; I have smell; I have taste; I have touch; I have a son; ; I have a daughter; ; I have servants; I have possessions; ; I have gold; ; I have house and so on � . Thus, we cling to it. As every worldly phenomenon is transitory and subject to decay-and-death; nothing can be kept for ever. Further, when the object to which we are attached slips away from our clinging. And the sudden realisation of the loss then makes us suffer.�

The potters discourse was well received by the audience, and as per the story he was remembered by the people for seven thousand years.

(The potter is identified with the Bodhisatta; and Ananda with the turtle).

See Kacchapa Jataka Jataka Pali No. 178.