మూడు చేపలు

మంచిని ఎవరు చెప్పినా వినాలి. అలాకాక అజ్ఞానంతో, మూర్ఖత్వంతో ఆ మంచిమాటలను పెడచెవిన పెడితే అందుకు తగిన ప్రతిఫలం అనుభవించక తప్పదు. ఇతరులందరూ అబద్దాలు చెప్పేవాళ్ళు అనుకుంటే అంతకు మించిన పొరపాటు మరొకటి లేదు. అలాంటి పొరపాటులు ఒక్కొక్కసారి ప్రాణాలకే ముప్పు తెస్తాయి అది ఎలాగో ఈ మూడు చేపల కధ ద్వారా తెలుసుకుందాం. 

The Brahmin and The Cobra

The Brahmin and The Cobra

Haridatta was a Brahmin who was very poor. He was a farmer but the piece of land he cultivated gave him very little to survive. One day, unable to stand the heat of the summer sun, he went to a big Tree in his land to rest for a while. Before he could spread himself on the ground he saw in the nearby anthill a huge cobra swaying with his hood open. He thought, “This cobra must really be the Goddess of this land. I have never worshiped her, which is why I am not able to get anything from the land. From today, I will worship her.” At once he went back to his village and returned with a glass full of Milk.  He poured it in a bowl and turning to the anthill said, “O ruler of the land, I did not know you were living in this anthill. That is why I have not paid my tribute to you. Please excuse me and accept this humble offering.” He then placed the bowl of milk at the anthill and left the place.

Next day when the Brahmin came to his land before the Sun was up; he saw a gold coin in the bowl he had left at the anthill. Henceforth, he came alone every dawn, collected the coin, offered the milk in the bowl and left. One day the Brahmin, leaving for another village on business, asked his son to go to the anthill and offer milk. When the son went the next day, he found a gold coin in the bowl. He collected the coin and thought, “This anthill must be full of gold. If I kill the cobra, I can collect all the gold in one go instead of coming here every day.” He then struck the cobra with a big stick. But the cobra deftly dodged the blow but stung the son to death with his poisonous fangs. Returning to his village the next day, Haridatta heard the story of his son’s death and at once realised that greed was behind it.

The Brahmin went to the anthill the day after his son’s cremation and offered milk to the cobra. Without coming out of his hole, the cobra told Haridatta, “You have come here for gold forgetting that you had lost a son and that you were in mourning. The reason is greed, pure greed. From today, there is no meaning in our relationship. Blinded by his youth, your son has struck me and I bit him back. How can I forget that blow? How can you suffer the grief of your son’s death? Finally, I am giving you this diamond, don’t come back again.”

MORAL: Excess of greed is harmful.

The Sage's daughter

Once upon a time there lived a sage on the banks of a river. He and his wife did not have any children. One day when the sage was praying in the middle of the river, an eagle happened to pass by and dropped a female mouse in the hands of the sage. The sage found the mouse in his hands on opening his eyes. He took it home to his wife.

On reaching home, he talked to his wife about the mouse and they decided to convert the mouse into a young baby girl. The sage and his wife began to take care of the girl child and brought her up as their daughter. The child grew day by day to a beautiful maiden. At the age of sixteen, the sage decided to find a match for the girl. He and his wife decided that the Sun God would be an ideal match for their girl.

So the sage prayed for the Sun God to appear. The sun god appeared and the sage asked him to marry his daughter. But his daughter said, "Sorry! I cannot marry the sun god because he is very hot and I will be reduced to ashes in his heat and light. The sage was displeased and asked the sun god to suggest a possible groom. The sun god suggested the name of the Lord of the clouds. For, the cloud can easily stop the rays of the sun.

The sage then prayed for the lord of the clouds and once he appeared, he took him to his daughter. The daughter once again decided not to accept him as his groom. She said, "I do not want to marry a person as dark as him. Moreover, I am afraid of the thunder he produces". The sage was dejected once again and asked the lord of clouds for a suitable groom. The lord of clouds suggested, "Why don't you try the lord of wind, for he can easily blow me away".

The sage then prayed for the lord of the wind. On the appearance of the wind-god, he took him to his daughter. His daughter rejected the groom saying that she cannot marry the wind god who is always on the move. Dejected once again the sage asked the wind-god for a suggestion. The wind-god suggested the lord of the mountain which was rock solid and stopped the wind easily. So the sage then went to the mountain lord and requested him to marry his daughter. But the daughter once again rejected the mountain lord saying that he was too cold-hearted for her to marry and requested the sage to find somebody softer but stronger than him. The mountain god then suggested a mouse to him, because the mouse is soft and yet can easily make holes in the mountain.

This time the daughter was happy and agreed to marry the mouse. So the sage said, "Look at what the destiny had to offer you. You started as a mouse, and were destined to marry a mouse in the end. So be it". He then converted her back to a she-mouse and got her married.

Story moral: Destiny cannot be changed.

The day dreaming priest

 Long time ago there lived a priest who was extremely lazy and poor at the same time. He did not want to do any hard work but used to dream of being rich one day. He got his food by begging for alms. One morning he got a pot of milk as part of the alms. He was extremely delighted and went home with the pot of milk. He boiled the milk, drank some of it and put the remaining milk in a pot. He added slight curds in the pot for converting the milk to curd. He then lay down to sleep.

Soon he started imagining about the pot of curd while he lay asleep. He dreamt that if he could become rich somehow all his miseries would be gone. His thoughts turned to the pot of milk he had set to form curd. He dreamt on; "By morning the pot of milk would set, it would be converted to curd. I would churn the curd and make butter from it. I would heat the butter and make ghee out of it. I will then go to that market and sell that ghee, and make some money. With that money i will buy a hen. The hen will lay many eggs which will hatch and there will be many chickens. Those chickens will in turn lay hundreds of eggs and I will soon have a poultry farm of my own." He kept on imagining.

"I will sell all the hens of my poultry and buy some cows, and open a milk dairy. All the town people will buy milk from me. I will be very rich and soon I shall buy jewels. The king will buy all the jewels from me. I will be so rich that I will be able to marry an exceptionally beautiful girl from a rich family. Soon I will have a handsome son. If he does any mischief I will be very angry and to teach him a lesson, I will hit him with a big stick."During this dream, he involuntarily picked up the stick next to his bed and thinking that he was beating his son, raised the stick and hit the pot. The pot of milk broke and he awoke from his day dream.

Story moral: There is no substitute for hard work. Dreams cannot be fulfilled without hard work.

Greedy Jackal and the Hunter

There lived a hunter near village. One day he want for hunting. He could not find any animal for quite a sometime. He looked here and there for some animal which he could hunt. Suddenly, he saw a wild pig. The pig came out of the bushes and attacked him. The hunter shot an arrow at the wild pig. The arrow pierced pig's chest. The pig was badly wounded. Though he felt losing his strength, he came and attacked the hunter.

He caught hold of him and pierced his stomach with his tusks. The hunter died on the spot. 

The pig too struggled for some time and then died because of the fatal wound on his body. A hunter jackal was roaming around at that place. He saw both the hunter and the pig lay dead on the ground. The jackal felt very happy. He thought to himself, "how nice it is! After many days, I can have a feast. But I should not eat all the meat at once.

I must keep the meat for a long time. I must take it bit by bit. Just then the jackal caught sight of the hunter's bow lying next to him. 'Aha! The string used for this bow looks like it is made of sheep gut. I can chew on it for quite some time; Thus thinking the jackal bit the string of the bow, which snapped suddenly. The sharp end of the bow pierced the jackal causing its death. The greedy jackal died at once. If you are too much greedy, the greed will lead you to your own destruction. The greedy jackal is an example of this.

Moral : Too much Greedy is always Harmful. 

The Mongoose and the Farmer's wife

Long time ago there lived a farmer and his wife. They had a new born son. The farmer's wife wanted to have a pet animal to protect the child which would also be a companion to the child. They had a talk and decided upon a mongoose. So they brought a mongoose and started rearing it.

A couple of months later, one day the farmer and his wife wanted to go out of the house leaving the child at home. The farmer thought that the mongoose would take care of the child while they were away. So they left the mongoose and the child at home and went out.

The farmer's wife returned earlier and on returning home found that the mouth of the mongoose was stained with blood and she immediately inferred that the mongoose had killed the child.

In anger she threw a box on the mongoose and the mongoose was hurt badly. She then rushed inside to see what happened to the child. She was surprised to find a dead snake lying in the room. She could guess that that the mongoose had saved the child's life by killing the snake. Realizing the mistake she went out of the room only to find the mongoose dead on the floor. She cried out load at her hasty action.

Story moral: Don't act in haste. Think and act.

The Cunning Blue Jackal

Long time ago there lived a jackal who strayed into a city in search of food. He was hungry and was being chased by a group of dogs.

He accidentally entered the house of a dyer and fell into a drum of indigo (blue) dye, and was stained blue from head to toe. 

When he escaped from the house back into the forest, all animals were surprised at his appearance and could not place its identity. Taking advantage of the situation, the jackal decided to play the situation to his advantage. He proclaimed that he was fierce Owl, sent by the king of Gods, Indra, to earth to guard the forest.

The easy animals believed the jackal. The jackal then appointed the Lion as his Prime minister, Tiger as his guardian of the bed chamber and the Elephant was made the door keeper. He then drove all the Jackals out of sight from the forest for fear of being recognized. The animals would hunt food and bring it to the self proclaimed king and the king would distribute the food to all equally just as a king would do. So he was leading a life of luxury.

One day a herd of jackals were passing by howling to their glory. Unable to control his natural instinct, Fierce Owl showed his natural voice and howled at the top of his voice.

Hearing this howl, the animals realized that they have been fooled by a jackal and killed the jackal instantly.

Story moral: Destiny cannot be changed.

The Fox Reared By The Lion

Once upon a time there was a lion and a lioness in a dense forest. They gave birth to two cubs in due course of time. The lion asked the lioness to stay at home and take care of the cubs. One day the lion could not hunt any animal but found a little fox on the way home.

He took it home as a gift for the lioness. The lioness brought the fox kid with the same love as her own cubs. The three young animals grew and played together. One day the children saw an elephant. The lion cubs wanted to fight the elephant. But the fox kid was frightened and asked them to run away. So they ran away and went to the mother lioness.

The lion cubs told the story to her. She laughed at the fox kid. At this the fox kid was offended and in a rage challenged the lioness as to why she called him a coward. The lioness replied, "What's wrong with eating an elephant? You feel like that only because you're not a lion kid. You are the child of a fox. Your breed never eats elephants. If you cannot be bold please leave us and go live with your tribe." The fox kid did not want to live there any longer and left for the forest.

Story moral: A coward will always remain a coward even if it is in company of the brave.

The Monkey and the Crocodile

Long time ago there lived a monkey named Red-face on a tree by the side of the sea. The tree was an apple tree and the fruits it bore were sweet as nectar. Once a crocodile named Ugly-mug swam ashore, Red-face threw apples at him and asked him to taste them. Ugly- Mug started coming everyday ashore to eat the fruits thrown by Red-face and soon they became good friends. Ugly-Mug used to take some fruits to his home to his wife.

His wife was a greedy lady and asked him as to where he got the nectar filled apples. Ugly-Mug told about his friend the monkey. The lady was greedy and pleaded with her husband that she would like to eat the monkey's heart, as a person who gave such tasty fruits must have a heart filled with nectar. Ugly-Mug was angered and did not agree to deceive his friend. But she then insisted on not eating anything till he brought her his friend's heart. Out of desperation, Ugly-mug started making plans for killing his friend.

He came back to Red-face and treated him with an invitation to his house for supper stating that his wife would be thrilled to have him home and also that she was very anxious to meet such a nice friend. Poor Red-face believed the story but was asking his friend as to how he could cross the sea to reach the house of the crocodile on the other side. Ugly-mug then offered to carry him on his back and the monkey agreed.

In the middle of the sea, Ugly-mug took the crocodile deep into the ocean to kill the monkey. The monkey was frightened and asked the crocodile why he was doing this.Ugly-mug told him that his wife wanted to eat the monkey's heart filled with nectar. 

Red-face immediately asked the crocodile to take him back to the tree as he told him that he had left his other heart which was full of nectar back at the tree. The foolish crocodile then swam back to the tree and the terrified monkey jumped up the tree never to return.

Upon being asked as to why she was not returning, the monkey answered to the crocodile that he had only one heart and he had been fooled and scolded his friend for misusing his friendship.

The crocodile was ashamed at what happened and asked the monkey if he could make any amends. He was also scared that his wife would not let him back in because he had returned without the monkey's heart. Just then he heard that a huge he-crocodile had occupied his house. The monkey advised him to fight the he-crocodile and drive him out of his home and gain his wife's confidence. The crocodile followed the advice and he was back happy with his wife.

Story moral: Intelligence wins over might.

The Foolish Lion and the Clever Rabbit

Long time ago there lived a ferocious lion in the forest. It was a greedy lion and started killing all the animals in the forest. Seeing this, the animals gathered and decided to approach the lion with the offer of one animal of each species volunteering itself to be eaten by the lion every day. So every day it was the turn of one of the animals and in the end came the rabbits' turn. The rabbits chose a old rabbit among them. The rabbit old was wise. It decided to take its own sweet time to go to the Lion. The Lion was getting impatient on not seeing any animal come by and swore to kill all animals the next day.

The rabbit then went to the Lion by sunset. The Lion was angry at him. But the wise rabbit was calm and slowly told the Lion that it was not his fault. He told the Lion that a group of rabbits were coming to him for the day but on the way, an angry Lion attacked them all and ate all rabbits but Somehow he escaped to reach safely, the rabbit said. He said that the other Lion was challenging the supremacy of the Lion. The Lion was naturally very enraged and asked to be taken to the location of the other Lion.

The wise rabbit agreed and led the Lion towards a deep well filled with water. Then he showed the Lion his reflection in the water of the well. The Lion was furious and started growling and naturally its image in the water, the other Lion, was also equally angry. Then the Lion jumped into the water to attack the other Lion and kill it but lost its life in the well. Thus the wise rabbit saved the forest and all animals from the proud Lion.

Story moral: Intelligence wins over might.

A friend in need is a friend indeed

Once upon a time there lived a group of mice under a tree peacefully. But once a group of elephants came that way and destroyed the homes of all the rats as a result of which many of them were crushed to death. Then the king of rats decided to approach the elephant chief and request him to guide his herd through another route. The elephant king agreed to this and took another route to the water. And so the lives of the rats were saved.

One day a group of elephant-hunters came and trapped the group

of elephants in huge nets. Then the elephant king suddenly remembered the king of the rats. He summoned one of the elephants of his herd which had not been trapped, to go and contact the king of rats. On listening to the elephant, the rat king took his entire group of

Mice and they cut open the nets which trapped the elephant herd.

So the elephant herd was totally set free.

MORAL: A friend in need is a friend indeed.