Ucchaṅgajātaka
“A son’s an easy find.”—This story was told by the Master while at Jetavana, about a certain country-woman.
Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral
1.1PTS 1.308“Ucchaṅge deva me putto,A son in my lap, Your Majesty,11.2Pathe dhāvantiyā pati;or a husband while walking the street—21.3Tañca desaṁ na passāmi,but I don’t see the place1.4Yato sodariyamānayeti.from where I can fetch a brother.
2.1Ucchaṅgajātakaṁ sattamaṁ.
A woman’s son, husband, and brother are held by the king, who forces her to choose just one. She chooses her brother, as the others may be readily replaced. The king, impressed with her reasoning, releases all three.
Ucchaṅge (“lap”) here is a sexual innuendo; the commentary likens it to a “bag” in which vegetables are kept.
She can pick up a husband on the street as easily as she can conceive a son in her “lap”.
