'Jataka Tales', or past-life stories of the Buddha, are traditionally used to teach wisdom and compassion. In The Buddha's Question, Queen Videhi of Rajagaha asks the Buddha to teach four hundred children about the way of awareness and love. In reply, the Buddha recounts his previous life experience as a plumeria tree. This tree painfully witnesses the cruel deceptions of a heron upon forty fish and a wise and crafty crab. Though helpless to intervene, the compassionate tree takes vows with far-reaching consequences.