17. THE BRAHMIN AND THE COBRA
In a certain town, there lived a Brahmin, by the name of Haridatta. In spite of the fact that he worked extremely hard on his farm, he did not prosper. One day, the heat was unbearable and he was resting under the shade of a tree, on the farm when a cobra emerged from an anthill and confronted him with his hood raised. He thought to himself, “Perhaps this cobra is the deity of the farm. As I have not worshipped him before, my labour on the farm has proved to be fruitless. So, from today onwards, I shall start offering oblations to him.”
16. THE BRAHMAN’S GOAT
In a certain town lived a Brahman named Sama Sarma who had undertaken the labour of maintaining the sacred fire. One day in the month of February, when a gentle breeze was blowing, when the sky was veiled in clouds and a drizzling rain was falling, he went to another village to beg a victim for the sacrifice. Sama Sarma said to a rich man,”I wish to make an offering on the approaching day of the new moon. Please give me a victim.” And the rich man gave him a plump goat. Sama Sarma checked the goat and found it fit for sacrifice, placed it on his shoulder, and started in haste for his own city.
On the way he was met by three rogues whose stomachs were pinched with hunger. On seeing the plump goat on his shoulder, three rogues planned to fool him, get the goat, and ward off the cold. So the first of them changed his dress, met Sama Sarma, the Brahman, and said to him: “O! pious Brahman, why are you doing a thing so unconventional and so ridiculous? You are carrying an unclean animal, a dog, on your shoulder. Are you ignorant of the verse: The dog and the rooster, the hangman, the ass, the camel, defile you. Don’t touch them, but pass.”
15. THE BLUE FOX
Once upon a time there was a forest by a city. The forest was the home of many animals. Among them was a Fox. There were many other Foxes who belonged to the same pack but the others moved around together and seldom left the forest.
Now this particular Fox was more adventurous and often strayed into the village in search of food. He had already tasted the wonderful
things the human beings were fond of cooking and went to look for some whenever he could. It was not a particularly easy thing to do.
14. THE BIRD WITH TWO HEADS
Long, long ago, there lived a strange bird in a huge banyan tree. The tree stood beside a river. The strange bird had two heads, but only one stomach.
Once, while the bird was flying high in the sky, he saw an apple shaped fruit lying on the bank of the river. The bird swooped down, picked up the fruit and began to eat it. This was the most delicious fruit the bird had ever eaten.
As the bird had two heads, the other head protested, “I’m your brother head. Why don’t you let me also eat this tasty fruit?”
