sn47.19:1.1 At one time the Buddha was staying in the land of the Sumbhas, near the town of the Sumbhas named Sedaka.
sn47.19:1.2 There the Buddha addressed the mendicants:
sn47.19:1.3 “Once upon a time, mendicants, a pole acrobat of the corpse-workers set up the bamboo pole of his tribe and said to his apprentice Medakathālikā,
sn47.19:1.4 ‘Come now, dear Medakathālikā, climb up the bamboo pole and stand above my shoulders.’
sn47.19:1.5 ‘Yes, tutor,’ she replied. She climbed up the bamboo pole and stood above her tutor’s shoulders.
sn47.19:1.6 Then the pole acrobat of the corpse-workers said to Medakathālikā,
sn47.19:1.7 ‘You look after me, dear Medakathālikā, and I shall look after you.
sn47.19:1.8 That’s how, guarding and looking after each other, we’ll display our skill, collect our fee, and get down safely from the bamboo pole.’
sn47.19:1.9 When he said this, Medakathālikā said to her teacher,
sn47.19:1.10 ‘That’s not how it will be, tutor!
sn47.19:1.11 You look after yourself, and I shall look after myself.
sn47.19:1.12 That’s how, guarding and looking after ourselves, we’ll display our skill, collect our fee, and get down safely from the bamboo pole.’