The Elephant in the Parileyya Forest.
Wishing to be alone for some time the Buddha set out for the Parileyya Forest. On reaching the forest and after meeting with some of his devoted disciples who were living alone there, the Buddha rested under a huge sala tree.
Now a certain full-grown male elephant, the leader of a herd was living in the forest with females and young ones. Feeling a bit restless, the elephant left the herd and wandered off. After a while it happened to come to the sala tree where the Buddha was alone by himself. The elephant on seeing the Buddha seated at the foot of the sala tree, felt calm like a man who had his grief allayed by the cool waters of a thousand pools. A great feeling of devotion to the Buddha arose in him and he stood gazing at the Buddha. From that moment, he wanted to serve the Buddha and made it his daily duty to sweep the ground where the Buddha set. Daily he brought water to the Buddha for washing His face, he fetch water for bathing, he offered swall twigs as tooth cleaner, he brought sweet, delicious fruits of different sizes and offered them to the Buddha and cared for the Buddha in any way he could.
When the Buddha entered the village for alms food, the elephant would carry the Buddha's alms bowl and robe on his head and accompanied him up to the edge of the village. There the Buddha would take the bowl from him and the elephant would await His return, whereupon he would again take the alms bowl and robes and return to the tree with the Buddha. Whilst the Buddha was meditating he would stand guard to ensure that the Buddha was not endangered in any way. He would fan and ward off any pests and insects from disturbing the Buddha.
Later, when the Buddha returned to Savatthi, the elephant died of a broken heart. For the good deed that he had done, the elephant was reborn in Tavatimsa Heaven and lived in a golden palace, where he came to be known as Parileyyaka-devaputta.
