Category Archives: INDIA
68. THE JACKAL AND THE ARROW
Once a hunter was hunting in a forest. After sometime, he felt hungry. He saw a wild boar coming towards him. He shot an arrow at the boar. The arrow pierced the boar’s neck and protruded at its back.
But the boar, before falling on the ground, killed the hunter with his pointed tusks. Soon the hunter and the boar both were lying dead at the same spot.
At the same time, a hungry jackal happened to pass through that place. He saw a man and an animal, both lying dead there. ‘What a good luck I have? So much food to eat for days together’, thought the jackal to himself. He began to think whose flesh to eat first the man or the animal.
He decided to go slow at the eating, so that the food would last for a longer period.
The jackal decided first to lick the blood and eat a little flesh stuck round the tusks of the boar. But, as soon as, he put the pointed tip of the boars tusks in his mouth it pierced his jaws and went through his head. The jackal died on the spot.
❖ Greed never pays.
❖ Too much of greed is harmful.
67. THE IRON BALANCE ATE BY RATS
In a certain town, there lived a merchant’s son by the name of Jveernadhana. Because he had lost his money, he made up his mind to leave that part of the country and go somewhere else. Now in his house, the merchant’s son had a very heavy iron balance that he had inherited from his forefathers. He deposited this with another merchant and then left for a different part of the country.
66. THE HUNTER AND THE DOVES
There was a huge banyan tree standing on the outer boundaries of a village. All kinds of birds had their homes in this tree. Even the travellers would come and relax under its cool shade during the hot summer days.
Once, a fowler came to take a rest there. He also had a huge net with him. He set his net under the tree and strewed some grains of rice to lure the birds. A crow living in the tree saw it and cautioned his friends not to go down to eat the rice.
65. THE HORSE AND THE LION
Long ago, there was a farmer who had an old horse with him. As the horse had become old, the farmer told the horse to leave his house and live in some forest. The horse became very sad. He said to his master, “Master, I’m your old servant. I have served you all my life. I have always been faithful to you and there has been no slackness on my part in carrying out my duties. So long as I was physically strong, you had all your affections for me but as soon as you realised that I have become physically infirm; I, no longer, have that vigour and vitality in me, you asked me to leave your house and go and live in some forest. Is this a reward to the services rendered by me with all my honesty and faithfulness?”
