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Articles: Moral Stories | Panchatantra stories
- Mr. Siri Siri
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THE HERON AND A SNAKE
In a forest, there was a big Banyan tree, which was inhabited by numerous herons. There also used to live a black cobra in the hollow of that Banyan tree. The cobra used to devour the eggs and the chicks of the herons.
One day, a heron, which had lost its chick to the cobra, was wailing at the shore of a lake. A crab named was Kulirak heard the wails. He asked -
'O good heron! What happened? Why are you crying?'
The heron then narrated all about its woes and also requested the crab to help him find a way so that the cobra could be destroyed.
Kulirak, the crab always regarded the heron as its enemy and so was happy that his enemy was in trouble. He thought that it would be better if the whole species of herons were destroyed. He thought of a plan and said -
'Lay out all the bones of the fish you have eaten, from the burrow of the mongoose, to the hollow in which the cobra lives. The mongoose would reach that hollow following those bones and kill the cobra'.
The heron liked this plan. He did, as per the instruction of the crab but the end result was not less than catastrophe for him. The mongoose did kill the cobra but also devoured all the chicks as well as the eggs of the herons.
Therefore a man should thoroughly contemplate of the negative consequences, which his means might cause.
After completing his story Kartak said to Damanak -
'You do not understand the repercussions which your act of creating differences between Pingalak and Sanjeevak would have on you. By causing injury to the master, you have shown your meanness. If you can do this to your master, you won’t spare me either. You are not trustworthy. Get lost, go away from my sight! If it is possible for a rat to eat thousand iron pieces, there would not be any doubt in a falcon’s ability to lift a small child'.
Damanak curiously asked -
'How and when did it happen?'
Kartak then narrated the following tale -
THE TALE OF AN IRON BALANCE
A grocer’s son named Jeernadhan lived in a city. Incidentally, he became very poor because of incurring heavy losses in trade. He decided to try his luck migrating to some other city because he thought- ‘the people of the city have seen my prosperity, the very same people will condemn me when they find me in such a bad condition’.
Jeernadhan had an iron balance with him, which weighed one thousand grams. Before migrating to another city, he decided to keep his iron balance as a mortgage with a rich trader, on the promise that the trader would give it back to him (Jeernadhan) on his return. The rich trader agreed to keep his iron balance.
After a long time, Jeernadhan returned and went to the rich trader to get back his iron balance. But the rich trader said -
'I am sorry but your iron balance has been eaten up by the rats'.
Jeernadhan understood that the trader was reluctant to return the balance and hence was playing tricks with him. He thought for a moment and said -
'All right! What is the use of worrying about such a small matter? Can you allow your son to accompany me for a bath'.
The rich trader agreed to send his son, Dhandena with him. After taking bath, Jeernadhan hid the trader’s son inside a cave and closed its mouth with a large boulder. He went to the trader’s house. Seeing him alone, the trader asked -
'Where is my son'.
Jeernadhan was just waiting for this question. He said -
'I am sorry sir, while I was taking my bath, a large falcon picked up your son and flew away'.
The rich trader said- 'How can it happen? It is impossible'.
A quarrel erupted between them. Both of them went to the court to settle the dispute. The rich trader alleged Jeernadhan of kidnapping his son. He said -
'Sir, this wretched Jeernadhan has abducted my son. He is not giving him back to me'.
Jeernadhan replied -
'Sir, if the rats can eat up the iron balance, can’t a falcon take a boy with it'.
The judge became amazed at this reply. He asked him to tell the whole story clearly. At last, he ordered the rich trader to return back the iron balance to Jeernadhan. Jeernadhan too handed over Dhandena back to the trader.
Completing his story, Kartak said to Damanak -
'Damanak! You are a jealous person. You were jealous of the favours Pingalak had been showing for Sanjeevak. It has rightly been said that a learned enemy is better than a foolish friend, just as the tale of the king who was killed by his friend, a foolish monkey and a Brahmin’s life was saved by a petty thief'.
Damanak curiously asked about the story of the king and the monkey.
Kartak narrated the following tale -
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