77. THE LION, THE FOX, THE CROW AND THE CAMEL
There in a deep jungle, lived a lion by the name of Madotkata. He had three selfish friends-a jackal, a crow and a wolf. They had become friendly with the lion, because he was the king of the forest. They were always at the service of the lion and obeyed him to meet their selfish ends.
Once, a camel got disorientated in the jungle while grazing and went astray. He tried hard to find his way out, but could not succeed.
76. THE LION AND THE WOODCUTTER
There lived a lion in a dense forest. He had two good friends, a crow and a jackal. The lion hunted the whole day for his prey. And after assuaging his hunger, he gave the remaining food to his friends. The jackal and the crow were very happy to eat free food. They ate their fill and lazed around since they did not have to exert themselves to earn their food.
In the same village, there lived a woodcutter and his wife. Both husband and wife went to the forest to collect wood and returned home after hours of hard work. When they returned, the woodcutter’s wife cooked meals and they both ate sitting in front of their house.
75. THE LAPWINGS AND THE SEA
Once upon a time, there lived a lapwing and his wife on a sea-shore. When it was time for the lapwing’s wife to lay eggs, she said to her husband. “I don’t want to lay eggs here on the sea shore. The sea might eat up my eggs. Let us go to some pond or lake.”
“Don’t be foolish”, said the lapwing. “Even our ancestors laid eggs here. Let the sea eat our eggs. I’ll teach him a lesson, if he tries to do so .
74. THE KING COBRA AND THE ANTS
There lived a big king cobra in a dense forest. As usual, he fed on birds’ eggs, lizards, frogs and other small creatures. The whole night he hunted the small creatures and when the day broke, he went into his hole to sleep. Gradually, he became fat. And his fat grew to such a measure that it became difficult for him to enter and come out of his hole without being scratched.
Ultimately, he decided to abandon his hole and selected a huge tree for his new home. But there was an ant hill at the root of the tree. It was impossible for king cobra to put up with the ants. So, he went to the ant hill and said, “I’m King Cobra, the king of this forest. I order all of you to go from this place and live somewhere else.”
There were other animals, too, around. They began trembling with fear to see such a huge snake before them. They ran for their lives. But the ants paid no heed to his threats. Thousands of ants streamed out of the ant hill. Soon they were swarming all over the body of the king cobra, stinging and biting him. Thousands of thorny pricks all over his body caused unbearable pain to him. The king cobra tried to keep the ants away, but in vain. He wriggled in pain and at last, died a painful death.
❖ Even the strong and mighty cannot face the small ones, when in a large number, at a time.
