Category Archives: PANCHATANTRA TALES
62. THE HERMIT AND THE JUMPING RAT
On the outskirts of a small village, there was a temple, in which, there lived a pundit. He used to perform pooja in the nearby villages. In the evening, after he had finished his meals, he would keep the remaining food, if any, into a bowl. He would hang the bowl upon a hook, which was attached to the ceiling by means of a string.
There, in the same temple, lived a fat rat. He was so fat that he didn’t fear even the cats. He would come out of his hole during the night time and jump over to the hanging bowl and eat whatever food available in it. The next morning, when pundit would open the bowl, he would find it empty. This went on daily. The pundit became very sad. He didn‘t know how to drive the rat away from the temple.
61. THE GULLIBLE CARPENTER
There was once a carpenter in a certain village. His wife was a whore, and reputed to be such. So he, desiring to test her, thought: “How can I put her to the test?
“Now I know from popular gossip that she is unfaithful. After these reflections, he said to his wife: “Tomorrow morning, my dear, I am going to another village, where I shall be detained several days. Please put me up a nice lunch.”
60. THE GREAT – HEARTED MONKEY
In a forest glade, by the side of River Ganges, high on the mountains there lived about eighty thousand monkeys along with their giant monkey king. And by the side of the clear gushing water stood a tall shady mango tree with juicy mangoes.
All the monkeys just loved these mangoes and ate them off almost as soon as they had ripened. Their wise king had warned them not to let a single juicy fruit fall into the river. Because if the current carried even one of these fruits down the river to the land where the men lived, they would surely come in search of this delicious fruit and destroy the peace in the land of the monkeys.
59. THE GOLDEN GOAT
There lived a golden goat in a deep forest. He was as big as a pony and as strong as a bull. He had two pointed horns. His golden hair shone like burning flames in the bright sunlight. Even lions and tigers were afraid of facing this goat.
on the outskirts of a village, Once a lion saw the goat eating vegetable leaves in the garden of a farmer. The farmer seeing the goat in his garden beat him with sticks. The lion thought to himself, “How can a grass eating animal be stronger than I.”
When the goat came out of the vegetable garden bleeding after being beaten by the farmer, the lion pounced upon him. He killed the goat and ate it.
❖ Keep your eating habits and personal traits a secret.
