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Articles: Moral Stories | kaakolikyam
- Mr. Siri Siri
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THE JACKAL AND THE LION
A lion named Kharankhar lived in a forest. One day, when he did not find any prey, so getting perplexed with hunger, he entered a cave thinking-
'There must be some animal living in this cave.' He waited inside the cave patiently for the arrival of a potential meal. That cave belonged to a jackal whose name was Dadhipuchchh. When the jackal returned and was about to enter the cave he noticed the footprints of lion leading to the caves. The footprints leading to the caves were visible but the footprints going away from the cave were not to be seen.
The Jackal understood that the lion was still inside the cave awaiting for his arrival. To confirm his suspicion he employed a trick. He shouted -
'O Cave! O Cave!' Then he stopped for a while and then said again- 'Why don’t you call me back. Don’t you know that I do not enter you unless you invite me.'
The Lion heard all that. He thought that the cave must have been responding to the jackal's call every time. 'Perhaps his cave is scared of me and that’s why it is not responding to jackal’s call', thought the lion.
The lion decided to respond to the jackal’s call imitating the cave. He called out: 'Come in! Come in!'
When the jackal heard the Lion’s roar, he understood everything and ran away. After completing his story Raktaksha went to other place along with his family and well wishers.
Sthirjivi was happy that the big obstacle to his path had been removed.
Sthirjivi then started collecting woods in his nest. The foolish owls did not realize the purpose behind his action. After some days a large pile of woods was collected.
One day, at the sunrise when the owls were unable to see, Sthirjivi went to call Meghavarna, who was living at Rishimookh Mountain. When he reached there he said to him -
'Lord! Be quick! I have stored a huge pile of wood at the door of the owls' cave. Now we must ignite that pile before the detective owls come to know about our plan.'
Meghavarna then brought a burning wood, holding it in his beak he kept it among the pile of woods. The fire spread very quickly and soon all the owls were charred to death. Arimardan while dying thought that had he believed in Raktaksha’s words, they would not have met their end so sadly.
Meghavarna returned to his earlier abode along with the other crows. Meghavarna was curious to know about the plan of Sthirjivi which had enabled him to accomplish his mission successfully.
Sthirjivi narrated the whole story and said -
'When the situation demands an intelligent person should be prepared to carry his enemy even on his shoulders, just as the snake who had devoured thousands of frogs after carrying each of them on his hood.'
Meghavarna curiously asked about the story.
Sthirjivi narrated the following story -
FROGS AND THE SNAKE
There used to live an old snake named Mandavish. Because of his old age he faceed serious difficulties in finding his prey. At last, he thought of a plan and arrived at the shores of a nearby lake. He sat down there like an ascetic. A frog saw him sitting and curiously asked him why he was not making any effort to acquire food. The snake replied deceitfully.
'How can an unfortunate person like me have a desire to eat? Last night I tried to catch a frog, but that managed to slip away and hid among the Brahmins, who were taking their bath. I mistook the thumb of a Brahmin’s son for frog and bit him. The boy died. The Brahmin cursed me to become a vehicle of the frogs and only by their blessings, I would get my food. So I have come here to become your vehicle.'
The frog went back into the lake and informed his king Jalpaad and all the other frogs. Jalpaad believed it and came out of the lake to have a ride on the back of the snake.
The snake pleased Jalpaad with his anticism and took him for a ride on his hood. Jalpaad thoroughly enjoyed his ride. Now it became his daily routine. After some days, the snake was creeping slowly but it was all his plan. Jalpaad asked about the reason for his slow movement. Mandavish- the snake replied that as he had not eaten anything for the last many days, he was feeling very hungry.
The foolish Jalpaad instructed him to devour some small frogs. Mandavish became very pleased but did not show his happiness. This way Mandavish killed and ate many frogs. In the end Mandavish devoured Jalpaad too.
After completing his story Sthirjivi told Meghavarna that he too had killed the enemies just like Mandavish. He said -
'A mean person does not even dare to undertake a task for fear of the potential obstacles. A medium person does undertake a task but quit midway when faced with obstacles. The best person, however accomplishes his task once he undertakes it, inspite of obstacles.'
Sthirjivi then requested Meghavarna to rule fearlessly as all the hurdles in his way had been removed and all the enemies slain. 'I want to take rest now as I have grown old,' said Sthirjivi. Sthirjivi also advised Meghavarna to not to get discouraged by the adversities as it was natural to face some kind of obstacles in life. Even Sri Rama could not lead an obstacle-free life.'
Sthirjivi cited many examples from the life of great men like the Pandavas, the destruction of Ravan to prove his point. Thus after advising Meghavarna to rule justly, Sthirjivi took retirement.
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