The Panchatantra - Story 79

STORY NO. 79. THE MOUSE AND THE HERMIT

The saint Mahatapas lived in the dense forest of Gautama, doing terrible penance. One day, he saw a young mouse fall on the grass in front of him from the beak of a crow. He saw also a cat run to eat the mouse. 'Moved by love, tenderness and pity, the saint used his extraordinary powers, derived from austerity, and made the mouse into a big cat. The cat, which had gone to eat it, ran away. A dog came along, and the cat was afraid. The saint turned it into a dog, and saved it. A tiger arrived now, and the dog trembled before it. The saint turned the dog into a tiger, and saved it. 

But some people who saw this said, "This was a dog and was made into a tiger by this saint."The mouse-tiger thought to itself, "So long as this saint lives, he will remember that I was a mouse once, and will spread the tale. Let me therefore kill him". He prepared himself to spring on the saint and kill him. The saint guessed what was passing in his mind and said, "Be a mouse again", and the tiger became a mouse again.