Jataka Talkative Tortoise

tale:jataka_talkative_tortoise

A tortoise too fond of talking befriends two geese, who offer to fly it to their mountain home gripping a stick in its mouth, on the one condition that it stay silent. Passing over a town, it is jeered by children and, stung, opens its mouth to retort, loses its hold, and falls. Moral: the one who cannot hold his tongue brings about his own fall. — Jataka tale