Monthly Archives: October 2013
38. THE DONKEY IN THE LION’S SKIN
There was a washerman. His name was Shuddhapata. He had a donkey. The donkey had an insatiable appetite for food, but was least interested in doing his master’s work. And Shuddhapata was very poor. It was not possible for him to feed his always-hungry and lazy donkey. Therefore, as a result the donkey became lean and thin.
Once the washerman had to go to the town to purchase soap etc. for washing clothes. He had to pass through a jungle on his way to the town. While returning from the town, he found a lion’s skin in the jungle. He immediately thought of a plan to feed his lazy donkey.
When the night fell, he donned his donkey with the lion’s skin and drove him to the nearby fields. The farmers were frightened to see a lion roaming in their fields and ran away. The donkey ate his fill and returned home in the early hours of morning. This continued for months together. Soon the donkey became fat and healthy. No farmer ever dared come near him. The donkey passed his days and nights happily.
One night, as the donkey was feeding itself in a neighbouring field, it heard another donkey braying in a nearby village. The donkey became very happy to hear it and instinctively started braying in reply, “Dheechoon, Dheechoon”. Soon the farmers realised that the animal they were frightened of was not a lion but a donkey. They became very angry. They came out of their houses with lathis in their hands and beat the donkey so badly that it died on the spot.
❖ You cannot fool all the people all the time
❖ He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.
❖ Do not pretend to be what you are not.
37. THE DOG IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY
Long, long ago, in a town, there lived a dog by the name of Chitranga. Once there was a famine in the country. Due to lack of food the animals began to starve and die. Chitranga too began to starve. So he went to a foreign country for food and water.
Reaching the foreign country, Chitranga began to wander in search of food. At one place because of the negligence of the lady house holder the door of a house was left without being locked properly. Chitranga got into the house and fed himself on various kinds of delicious food. This became his daily routine. But, after he would come out of the house, the other dogs on the street would chase him and bite him all over his body.
Chitranga became very sad. He thought to himself: “It’s better that I return to my own country and live in peace, in spite of the famine.”
So, Chitranga decided to return to his own country. When Chitranga arrived in his country, his friends and relatives surrounded him with curiosity and asked him many questions relating to his foreign travel.
Then Chitranga said, “In foreign countries the housewives are in a habit of leaving the doors of their houses open. One can enter the house freely and eat a lot of food in the kitchen. But there is one disadvantage; your own relatives and friends bite you to death.”
❖ Our nation is always welcomed to our nation members whether they cheat to our own nation.
❖ The outsiders may tolerate your lapses but not your own kith and kin.
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.
