Baka — Book of the Ones · Chapter Four (Kulāvakavagga) · Poem 8 of 10
Setting
No narrative scene in the canonical verse itself
Speaker
Unspecified in the canonical verse itself
Form
One four-line stanza
Length
Under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
This reading guide does not assert a specific matching text for this poem in other Buddhist literatures.
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — one short proverb about the limits of cheating
Why this text
This poem's proverb — that a clever cheat can never achieve real happiness through cheating — is sharpened by its own punchline: the crane's fraud succeeds only in getting him exactly what a crab, of all creatures, was able to do to him instead.
Reading guide
A proverb about the ceiling on what cheating can achieve
The verse states its principle, then delivers its own ironic proof: ‘the clever cheat cannot achieve ultimate happiness by cheating. The clever cheat succeeds only in getting what the crane did from the crab.’ The final line is deliberately withholding — the reader must already know, or find out via the commentary, exactly what the crab did to the crane.
A trickster outplayed by its own intended victim
Per Sujato's comment, the crane, appearing to contemplate deeply as it waits beside the pond, catches fish by means of fraud — but is ultimately ‘outplayed by the canny crab’, a creature it presumably expected to be an easy target. The specific irony is that the crane's downfall comes not from a stronger predator, but from the very kind of victim it assumed it could deceive without consequence.
Key terms
nikatippañño — “the clever cheat” — the verse's own term for someone whose intelligence is put entirely toward deception.
nāccantaṁ... sukhamedhati — “cannot achieve ultimate happiness” — the verse's central claim about the limits of cheating.
bako kakkaṭakāmiva — “what the crane did from the crab” — the verse's own withheld punchline, requiring outside context to fully land.
Bakajātaka — the traditional title of this tale, ‘The Crane’.
kakkaṭaka — “crab” — per Sujato's comment, the seemingly easy target who ultimately outplays the scheming crane.
The text
The text in full: a single verse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1The clever cheat cannot achieve ultimate happiness by cheating. The clever cheat succeeds only in getting what the crane did from the crab.
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Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 10
What does the verse claim about the 'clever cheat'?
Correct: B. The verse's central proverb about the limits of deception.
Question 2 of 10
How does the crane catch fish, per Sujato's comment?
Correct: C. A deceptive appearance masking predatory intent.
Question 3 of 10
Who ultimately outplays the crane?
Correct: D. The specific irony central to this tale.
Question 4 of 10
What does the verse's final line deliberately withhold?
Correct: A. A compact reference assuming the audience already knows or will learn the fuller story.
Question 5 of 10
What kind of victim did the crane presumably expect the crab to be?
Correct: B. Making its downfall at the crab's hands especially ironic.
Question 6 of 10
What is this poem's traditional title?
Correct: C. The thirty-eighth poem overall, and the eighth of the Kulāvakavagga.
Question 7 of 10
What broader point does this proverb make about intelligence used for deception?
Correct: D. The crane's fraud is defeated not by strength but by a cleverness matching or exceeding its own.
Question 8 of 10
What method does the crane use to appear non-threatening while hunting?
Correct: A. A deceptive posture that presumably worked on the fish, but not on the crab.
Question 9 of 10
Where does this poem sit in the collection's own chapter structure?
Correct: B. Part of the same ten-poem Kulāvakavagga.
Question 10 of 10
How does this verse's structure use compression for effect?
Correct: C. A technique found across several poems in this partial selection.
