The Tortoise and the Geese
The Stork and the Crab
The Elephants and the Mice
The Panchatantra are moral stories and one of the most popular collections
of animal-based fables. These stories are light, colourful and
appropriate, even for tiny tots, and provide valuable lessons that stay in
their minds forever.
The legend about the origin of
Panchatantra traces back into the times of King Amarashakti, who appointed
a scholar named Vishnu Sharma to educate his three sons. Vishnu Sharma
realised that conventional tools and techniques of teaching did not work
well with these princes, and so, decided to teach them through stories,
instead. He, therefore, wrote a collection of stories and it was named as
Panchatantra.
Once upon a time, beside a lake, there lived a tortoise and two geese
who were great friends. As the lake was drying, the geese decided to
migrate to a new place. The tortoise also wanted to move with them,
but he couldn’t fly, and so he pleaded the geese to take him with
them. After trying really hard to convince them, finally, the geese
agreed. They held a stick with their beaks and asked the tortoise to
hold the stick with his mouth, warning him to not open his mouth and
let go of the stick.
As they flew high, some onlookers thought
that the tortoise was kidnapped and commented: “Oh, the poor
tortoise!” This angered the tortoise and he immediately opened his
mouth to say something back. As soon as he did, he fell to the
ground.
Once upon a time, there lived a stork who used to pick fishes from the
pond beside him, and eat them. However, as he grew older, he found it
difficult to catch a single fish. In order to feed himself, he thought
of a plan. He told the fish, frogs, and crabs, that some men are
planning to fill the pond and grow crops, and that’s why there won’t
be any fish in the pond. He also told them how sad he felt about this
and that he will miss them all. The fish were sad and asked the stork
to help them. The stork promised to take all of them to a bigger pond.
However, he told them, “As I am old, I can take only a few of you at
one go.” The stork would take the fishes to a rock, kill them, and eat
them up. Every time he was hungry, he would take a few of them to the
rock and eat them.
There lived a crab in the pond, who wanted to
go to the bigger pond too. The stork thought of eating the crab for a
change and agreed on helping him. On the way, the crab asked the
stork, “Where is the big pond?” The stork laughed and pointed to the
rock, which was filled with fish bones. The crab realised that the
stork would eat him, and so quickly thought of a plan to save himself.
He caught the stork’s neck and did not let it go until the stork gave
up.
There was a village that was abandoned by its people after it
shattered, post an earthquake. However, the mice living in the village
decided to stay and make it their home. On the outskirts of this
village, there was a lake, where a herd of elephants visited regularly
to bathe and drink water. Since the village was on the way to this
lake, the elephants trampled the mice while walking there. So, the
king of mice decided to meet the elephants. He told them, ” O
elephants, as you travel through the village, many mice are trampled.
We will be very grateful if you could please consider changing your
route. We will remember and return the favour when you are in
need.”
The elephant king laughed, “We are giant elephants. What
favour can you mice return? Nevertheless, we honour your request and
change our route.”
After a few days, the elephants got trapped
and entangled in nets that were set up by hunters. They struggled hard
to escape, but in vain. The elephant king remembered the promise made
by the king of mice. So, he sent a fellow elephant who got lucky and
was not trapped, to ask the mice king to come and help them.
Soon,
all the mice came and started nibbling the nets, and freed the
elephants. The king of the elephants couldn’t thank the mice
enough!
Once upon a time, there lived a greedy lion who attacked and killed
animals, because of which every animal in the jungle was very afraid
of him. One day, they decided that each animal would go to the lion,
per day, as his prey. The lion agreed. When it was the rabbit’s turn,
they decided to send the wise old one. He travelled slowly and reached
the lion’s den before sunset. The lion furiously asked him, “Why are
you so late?” The rabbit answered, ”A group of rabbits were coming to
you, but on their way, the others were attacked by another ferocious
lion. I managed to escape and came here.” The rabbit also mentioned
that the other lion was challenging this one.
The lion was
extremely angry and asked the rabbit to take him to meet the new lion.
The wise rabbit took the lion to a deep well, and showed him his own
reflection. As the lion growled, his reflection did the same. He
considered this reflection to be his enemy. The enraged lion jumped
into the well to attack the other lion, and got trapped. Thus, the
wise old rabbit saved himself, and all the animals in the forest.