Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Tales of Hitopadesha
Tales of Hitopadesha
CONTENTS
VOLUME – I
1. The Story of A Crow, A Hunter, Some Doves and A
Mouse
17. The Story of The Hares, A Lake and The Moon God
He looked like Yama, the God of Death... When the crow saw him, he was
frantic and thought to himself, "This looks grim. I don't like the look of this at
all."
Thinking thus, he started following the hunter.
After some time, the hunter stopped and looked around. He took out some
grains of rice from his bag, scattered them on the ground and then spread out
his net over the grains
Just then, the king of doves with his courtiers was flying around in search of
food.
He saw the grains of rice and said to his followers, "How strange! Grains of rice
in an uninhabited forest? Let's see what this is all about. I smell a rat!"
But being greedy, the doves didn't listen to their king and flew down to pick up
the grains of rice. Whoops! In a trice, they were all caught in the net.
Then the king cried out, "Friends, we are in great danger. Unless we pull
ourselves together immediately and think of a way to get out, there's no
doubt that we shall all be dead.
Now I propose that we all catch hold of the net at the same time and fly
upwards together."
The birds agreed. They caught hold of the net and together flew away with it.
When the hunter saw this, he was spellbound and didn't know what to do.
But he soon came to himself and began to run after them, thinking, "These
birds have managed the escape because they are united. But when they come
down, I'll have them in my power!"
However, the doves flew very fast and were soon out of sight. They then asked
their king," What shall we do now?"
"I have a very dear friend," he said, "a mouse who lives on the banks of the
river Godavari. We'll go to him. I know he will find a way to free us!"
So, they all flew to the place where the mouse lived. When the mouse saw the
birds flying down towards him, he got frightened and ran inside his hole at the
root of a tree.
But the king of doves called out, "My friend! Don't you know me? Come and
set us free."
When the mouse heard this, he recognized his friend's voice and came out
quickly. The king of doves told him all that had happened and the mouse
immediately started nibbling at the strings of the net and set the birds free.
The crow, which had flown along and had been watching this from a nearby
tree, was full of admiration for their friendship and said to himself, "Well, it's
true what they say, a friend in need is a friend indeed".
Soon after that, the tiger killed the traveller and ate him
up.
The traveller should have known that one's nature
never changes.
"Oh please, let's not argue," said the deer. "Let's all be
friends. You can only know a friend from an enemy by
the way he behaves."
One day, the jackal took the deer aside and said to him,
"Friend! In another part of the forest, there's a field full
of corn. I'II takes you there and shows it to you."
The jackal took the deer along and showed him the
field.
The deer began to go there every day and eat to his
heart's content.
And then he told the crow how the jackal had shown the
corn field to him to get him trapped.
"I had warned you never to trust strangers but you took
no notice!" said the crow.
When the farmer came very close to the deer, his face
lit up with joy and said to himself," How nice! The deer
is already dead."
One day, a cat came to the foot of the tree with the
hope of catching and eating the baby birds.
But when the little birds saw her coming, they raised an
alarm. The blind vulture heard them and shouted,
"Who's there?"
When the cat saw the vulture, she got frightened and
said to herself; "Heavens! I am as good as dead. But I
must be brave and face danger. I must try to gain his
confidence."
"Go away or else I'll eat you up," shouted the vulture.
"Sir, listen to me first," said the cat, "then you can kill
me. But do you kill someone just because he belongs to
a particular race?"
"All right," said the vulture. "I am willing to listen to
you. But tell me why have you come here?"
Thus the cat won the confidence of the old blind vulture
and the latter allowed her to stay in the hollow of the
tree.
But the birds saw that their young ones were missing
and started looking for them.
When the cat saw that her game was up, she quietly
slipped away.
"Ha!" said the birds, "the blind, old vulture has eaten
our dear young children." The birds got together and
killed the vulture. As for the cat, once a rascal, always a
rascal.
5.The Story of A Rich
Mouse and A Holy Man
Once upon a time, there lived in the city of Champaka,
a holy man.
The mouse must have put aside a lot of food and having
so much food, gives him extraordinary energy to jump
so high."
They began to look for the hoard of food that the mouse
had accumulated. When they found it, they dug it up
and took it away.
Luck was on his side and he killed one, slung him over
the shoulder and in the evening, started for home.
Hurt in the battle, the pig too died. During the fight, a
snake who happened to be passing by, was trampled on
and crushed to death.
And that goes to show that greed can have some nasty
consequences.
"Who are you and why have you come to me?" asked
the elephant.
"My Lord! Catch hold of my tail and I'll Help you out,"
said the jackal with a cunning smile. "You put faith in a
person like me. Well, now - pay for it."
Suddenly, out came the wedge and the log closed in,
trapping the monkey's legs and crushing them.
One night, when he was fast asleep, a thief got into the
house to steal anything he could lay hands on.
When the donkey saw the thief enter the house, he said
to the dog, "Friend!
"No," retorted the dog. "I'm paying him back for looking
after his servants only when he is in need of their help."
The lion thought the matter over and finally hit upon an
idea. He went to the village nearby and brought a cat
back with him.
One day, he stole a temple bell and ran away into the
jungle.
When he saw the thief, the tiger pounced upon him and
killed him. The bell, fell to the ground.
After a few days, a group of monkeys spotted the bell,
picked it up and started playing with it.
She boldly went into the jungle and saw some monkeys
playing about and ringing the bell.
Then she went to the king and said, "Your Majesty! I'm
sure this demon can be overpowered by worshipping
the Gods. But this will cost money."
The king, who was only too anxious to get rid of the
demon, was prepared to part with a large amount of
money.
One day, the female crow who was about to get babies,
said to her husband, "My dear, please let us go away
from here. I'm certain the black cobra will eat my
children again."
"Don't be afraid!" said her husband. "I'm not going to
put up with him any more."
From that day onwards, the animals drew lots and sent
one animal every day to the lion.
"Show me this villain and I'II kill him," roared the lion,
furious with rage that another had challenged his
authority.
The hare led the lion to a well and cunningly showed
him his own reflection in the water and said, "Master!
There, see for yourself!"
Thinking that it was his enemy, the lion leapt into the
well to fight the other lion but was drowned.
"Oh no!" she replied. "When the tide is high, this place
is completely flooded."
One day, during the rainy season, when the sky was
overcast with dark clouds, it rained very heavily.
When the birds saw this, they felt sorry for the
monkeys.
When the monkeys heard this, they got angry and said
to themselves, "These birds are not afraid of the rain or
of cold wind. Living comfortably, they feel that they can
criticize us. Just wait. When the rain stops, we'll show
them!"
The poor birds regretted their words and felt that they
should not have given advice that was unasked for.
"Please tell us why have you come here," said the `king
of the elephants.
After Vijay, the old hare had said this, the king of
elephants who was now afraid said, "Ah, that was done
in ignorance. It won't happen again, I promise you."
"Well, if that's the case," said the old hare, "then you
can go in peace, but only after you've paid your
respects to the Moon God who lives in the lake and is
now trembling with fury!"
He put his bow and arrows down beside him and went
to sleep.
Along with the others went a crow and a quail who had
been friends for quite some time.
The wicked crow, true to his nature, went after the man
and kept dipping his beak into the pot and eating the
curd.
No sooner had the dyer thrown him out of the vat than
the jackal sprang to his feet and ran for his life into the
forest.
In due course, even the lion and the tiger became his
followers.
You'll see, he will pay for this! The lion, the tiger and
the other animals don't realize that he is a mere jackal
and so they've accepted him as their king. We must act
in such a way that they come to know the truth.
Later, when the swans flew up, carrying their friend, the
tortoise on a stick, they were spotted by some cow-
herds below.
"Well, if the tortoise falls down, we'll roast it," said one
of the cow-herds.
"I'll cut it into small bits and eat it," said another.
The moment she opened her mouth, she lost her grip
and came hurtling down. She was pounced upon and
killed by the cow-herds.
"Why bother!" said the third fish. "What will be, will be."
The third fish was caught in the net and killed by the
fishermen.
When they had gone, the second fish, though sorry for
her friend, felt happy to be alive and thought to herself,
"It's a mistake to leave things to chance. At the first
hint of danger, one must act quickly."
One day, the sage saw a cat chasing the mouse around
the ashram. He was afraid that his pet mouse would be
killed by the cat.
By the power of his penance, he turned the mouse into
a cat so that it could defend itself against other cats.
The crab put his claws around the crane's neck and
strangled him.
When they saw the fat goat on his shoulders, they said
to one another, "How can we get this goat away from
him? It would make a delicious meal."
The rogue said, "Holy man! Why are you carrying a dog
on your shoulders?"
The king assured the camel that his life would be safe.
He named him 'Chitra Karna' which means 'Spotted
Ears' and invited him to stay with them.
One day, the lion fell sick. That day it also rained
heavily making it difficult for the animals to get
anything to eat. They were worried.
They discussed the matter and said, "Let's get the lion
to kill the camel. What use is the camel to us
otherwise?"
"Have you been able to find some food?" asked the lion.
"You have food at your disposal, but you won't eat it,"
said the crow.
At the right time, the crow, the tiger and the jackal
went up to the lion.
The wise indeed say, "Fools are the game, which knaves
pursue."
28. The Story of A Wicked Snake and The
Stupid King of Frogs
"Well! I'll let you eat the frogs from my kingdom from
this day onward," said the king.
When his turn had come, the king of the frogs thought
bitterly, "What a fool I was to have been taken in by
such a rascal!"
One day, his wife went out to have a bath, leaving their
infant son in his care.