The Panchatantra - Story 66

STORY NO. 66. SAVED BY A CROW

In the forest of Champakavati in Magadha lived a crow and a deer who had been intimate friends for long. The deer was plump and sleek. When once roaming about at will in the forest, he was seen by a jackal who said to himself, 'How can I taste his delicious flesh? The only way is to make him trust me.' So he went up to him and said, 'Friend, are you keeping good health ?' The deer asked, 'Who are you ?' The jackal said, 'I am the jackal

Kshudrabuddhi. I drag on a maimed existence here, having lost all my relatives. Now that we have met and become friends I can once more love a full life. I want to be your constant attendant.' The deer said, 'All right.' They wandered together till sunset. Then they both went to the abode of the deer. 

The crow Subuddhi, the old friend of the deer, was sitting on the branch of a champak tree. Seeing the deer come with a jackal, he asked him, 'Friend, who is this other?'. The deer said, 'This is a jackal who desires our friendship.' The crow said, 'Friend, sudden friendship with a stranger is not advisable. Shelter should not be given to anyone whose family and nature are not known. For the fault of a cat, the vulture Jaradgava Suffered death.' 'How so?' asked the deer and the jackal. Then the crow related the story of "Jaradgava and Dirghakarna". 

'So it is that I say' continued the crow 'that shelter should not be given to one whose family and nature are not known.' The jackal said angrily, 'The day when the deer met you

first you too were one with family and nature unknown. How is it then that he is becoming more and more intimate with you every day? Your little wisdom shines only here. Where there are no learned men, even a man of feeble intellect is lauded. In a treeless tract even a castor plant is regarded as a tree. 'This is mine, this is a stranger', these are thoughts indulged in only by the mean and narrow-minded. To the large-hearted the whole world is their family. Just as this deer has become my friend, so have you too.' The deer said, 'Why all this use- less wrangling? Let us all live happily together and have friendly discussions. For, nobody is born as another's friend or foe. It is only by intercourse that people become friends or foes.' The crow said, 'All right.' From that day the three lived together but wandered about separately during daytime in search of food. 

One day, the jackal said to the deer when they were alone, 'Friend, in a corner of this forest there is a field full of standing paddy. I shall take you there and show it to you.' Then he took the deer there. Every day thereafter the deer used to go to the field and eat the paddy. The owner of the field saw this and set a snare for it. When he went there again as usual, the deer was caught in the snare. Then he said to himself, 'Who but a friend can deliver me from this death-trap ?' Presently the jackal came along and, seeing the deer ensnared, said to himself - 'My desire has been accomplished by this clever device of mine. The farmer will surely cut him up here and leave the bones with the adherent flesh and blood. There will be ample food for me for some time.' 

The deer was delighted at the sight of his friend and said, 'Friend, snap my bonds at once with your teeth and set me free. The worth of a friend is to be tested in times of

calamity, of a warrior in battle, of an honest man when overwhelmed with debt, of a wife when all the money is gone, and of relatives in times of grief. He alone is worthy to be called a relative or friend who stands by one in festivities and mourning, in famine and anarchy, at the King's gate and on the cremation ground.' The jackal looked again and again at the net and said to himself with satisfaction, 'Ah,, this net is very strong and this deer cannot possibly escape from it himself.' Then he said to the deer, 'Friend, this snare is made with sinews. How can I touch these unclean things of animal matter with my teeth on this Sunday, the most sacred of all days, being dedicated to the Sun, the source of all light and purity? So please do not misunderstand me for my inability to comply with your wish to-day. Tomorrow morning I shall come and do whatever you ask me to do.' Then he went and concealed himself in an adjoining bush waiting for the farmer to come and lit up the deer and leave the coveted bones. 

The crow, seeing that the deer did not return in the evening as usual, searched for him everywhere and found him at dusk in the snare in the field. He asked, 'Friend, what is this?' The deer said, 'This is the result of my having disregarded your wholesome advice. Adversity overtakes him who listens not to the wise words of well-meaning friends. Such a man is the delight of his enemies. The crow asked, 'Where is that traitor ?' The deer said, 'Hankering after my flesh he is hiding in yonder bush.' The crow said, 'I had already warned you. Simply because we are innocent and blameless it is no reason for trusting a wicked man, for even the virtuous come causelessly to grief at the hands of the wicked. Those whose death has knelled perceive not the smell of an extinguished lamp(That is, do not know when their lease of life has run out by a senseless act like the deer's befriending the jackal), listen not to the wise words of a friend and have not keenness enough to see the tiny star Arundhathi(The meaning is that only the very keen can perceive this tiny star or danger looming very small in the horizon like this star). 

A friend who speaks sweetly in one's presence and frustrates one's object in his absence is to be shunned like a pot of poison with milk on the surface.' The crow then heaved a deep sigh and said, 'O villain, why have you done such a wicked act? What credit is there in deceiving friends who are made to be associated with you and to entertain hopes from you by your delusively sweet words and hypocritical attentions ? Oh, goddess earth, how can you bear the burden of a wicked wretch who, violating his promise, practices evil upon a benevolent, unsuspecting, simple-hearted soul? One should not love or form a friendship with a wicked person who like a charcoal burns when hot and soils the hand when cold. But why do I complain of the conduct of the jackal, seeing that this is the settled course of conduct of the wicked ? First, the wicked man falls at our feet, then sings some sweet and wonderful humming song into our ears, and finally ends by biting us. 

A gnat and a wicked man are quite alike in this. That a wicked man speaks sweetly is no

reason at all for trusting in him, From his tongue flows honey, but in his heart of hearts is the deadliest of poison, Oh, friend deer, the farmer will come at dawn and I am unable to snap your bonds. So' when I see him from afar 1 shall warn you. You lie down flat and pretend to be dead. When I caw again get up and run quickly.' At dawn, the farmer came with a stick in his hand. Seeing him come from a far, the crow warned the deer who lay down flat and pretended to be dead. Seeing hint lying thus in the net, the farmer said with joy, 'Ha ! You died by yourself, did you?' and removed him from the net. When he was folding his net the crow cawed and the deer got up and ran in headlong flight and soon passed the bush where the jackal was hiding. The chagrined farmer flung his stick at him with all his might. It hit the jackal and felled him dead.