Category Archives: INDIA
36. THE DEVTA AND THE WEAVER
Once upon a time, there lived a weaver by the name of Mantharaka. One day, while he was weaving, his handloom broke down. So he decided to go to a nearby forest to cut wood and bring it home to repair his handloom. The weaver, then took an axe and set out to the forest.
While he was walking on the seashore looking for a good tree, he come across a Shinvashapa tree. He decided to cut it down to repair his loom.
35. THE DEER, THE CROW, THE RAT AND MANTHARAKA, THE TURTLE
There were once four friends, a deer named Citraanga (having a spotted body), a crow named Laghupatanaka (flying fast), a turtle named Mantharaka (moving slow), and a mouse named Hiranyaka (golden colored). One day a hunter captured the turtle, tied him to his bow with strands of grass, then set off toward home carrying his evening meal over his shoulder.
Learning of their companion’s capture, the three remaining friends quickly devised a scheme to set him free. The deer ran ahead of the hunter and laid himself in the path, pretending to be dead. The crow made the feigned death appear even more real by pecking lightly at the deer’s head. The mouse hid himself beside the pathway and readied himself to gnaw away his captured friend’s bonds.
The scheme worked as planned. The hunter, bearing the captured turtle, saw the deer, apparently dead by the side of the pathway. Setting down his burden to free his hands, he advanced toward his unexpected find. As the hunter neared his prey, not only did the crow fly away, but the deer itself suddenly jumped up and bounded into the forest. Cursing his bad luck, the hunter retraced his steps to reclaim the captive turtle, but he found only the gnawed-off bonds. Mantharaka had disappeared into a nearby swamp.
And thus were the four forest friends reunited.
❖ A friend in need is a friend indeed.
34. THE DAY DREAMING BRAMIN
Long time ago there lived a who was extremely lazy and poor at the same time. He did not want to do any hard work but used to dream of being rich one day. He got his food by begging for alms. One morning he got a pot of milk as part of the alms. He was extremely delighted and went home with the pot of milk. He boiled the milk, drank some of it and put the remaining milk in a pot. He added slight curds in the pot for converting the milk to curd. He then lay down to sleep.
33. THE CROW AND THE WATER PITCHER
Long ago, there lived a crow in a jungle. Once he was wandering in search of water to quench his thirst. At last, he came flying over a village. There he saw a pitcher lying in front of a house. There was some water in it. The crow tried to reach the water, but couldn’t succeed. The water level was too low in the pitcher. The crow began to think of some practicable device and finally came up with a bright idea. He looked around and found a pebble. He picked up the pebble in his beak and dropped it into the pitcher.
The crow realised that the water level had risen a little. So he dropped more pebbles in the pitcher till the water level was high enough for his beak to touch it.
The thirsty crow then drank the water to his hearts content and flew away.
❖ Necessity is the mother of invention.
