Tuesday, December 9, 2014

2. Hitopadesha - The Old Tiger and The Greedy Traveler

Long time ago, there lived a tiger in a forest. Over the years, he had turned old and weak.

One hot afternoon, when the tiger was resting near the lakeside, he saw a gold bangle.

The tiger quickly took the bangle. He thought that the bangle could be used to attract and catch prey. While the tiger was thinking, he saw a traveler passing through the other side of the lake.

The tiger was hungry. He was too old to run and catch his prey. So he made a plan to attract the traveller. The tiger held the bangle in his paw and asked the traveler, "This is gold bangle. It is of no use to me. Would you like to take it?"

The traveler was allured. He wanted to take the bangle, but was afraid to approach tiger.

So he planned to be careful. He asked the tiger, "You are lying. It is not a gold bangle. You want to kill me".

The tiger was very clever. He said, "Listen traveler. I am old, alone and weak. My claws are blunt and I have no teeth. I was once wicked but now I commit no evil and do good deeds. Do not fear me".

The traveler was carried way by the tiger's words. His greed for gold overcame his fear. He  taken in by this smart talk and his love for gold soon overcame his fear of the Tiger. The traveler jumped into the lake to reach tiger. But he was trapped in the deep marsh.

The tiger saw the traveller struggling to get out of the marsh. He said, "I will help you to get out".
The old tiger came near the traveller and caught hold of him. He dragged him out of the marsh and killed him.
The traveller was killed fue to his foolishness and greed.

Moral: Greed is not good. One should understand the nature of beings. A beast always remains a beast.

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