Swami Mukundananda
What is the story of King Midas's donkey ears and what does it teach about gossip?
King Midas and the whispering grass
A man who could not hold in a secret spoke it into a hole, and it spread anyway through the grass that grew there. Gossip is terrible because the person has no opportunity to defend themselves.
That is a humorous story, but gossip is a terrible thing to engage in. The pity is that the person being gossiped about does not even know what is being said.