Tuesday, December 16, 2014

1.15 Panchtantra - The Elephant And The Sparrow

Long time ago, there lived a sparrow with her husband in a nest on a mango tree. The she-sparrow laid eggs in the nest.

One hot afternoon an elephant came under the shade of the tree. The elephant enraged by heat and thrust, swirled his mighty truck and broke the branches of tree. One of the branches had the sparrow's nest. The nest fell and her eggs broke. The sparrow began weeping over the loss of her eggs.

A woodpecker heard her cry and came to ask her why was she crying. The mother sparrow said, "This elephant broke the branch with my nest. My eggs fell down and broke. My offspring are killed. I want to punish him by killing him. Please suggest some way to kill this wicked animal. The woodpecker told the mother sparrow about a fly which could help them in killing the elephant.

The sparrow and the woodpecker together went to the fly and told her about the mishap. They asked the fly to suggest a way to kill the elephant. The fly told them about her friend frog and said, "Let’s go to the frog and take his help”.

So the mother sparrow, the woodpecker and the fly went to the frog and narrated what had happened. The frog told them a plan - he asked the fly to hum a melody in elephant’s eye when the sun is high in sky so that he closes his eyes in pleasure. Then the woodpecker would scoop out his eyes and turn him blind. When he will feel thirsty and look for water, the frog would go to the deep marsh and start crocking there. The elephant would think of it as a pond and come to drink water. He would down in it and die.

The next day all three gathered and worked according to the plan. The elephant was blinded by woodpecker and drowned in the marsh when he went to drink water there.

Thus with the help of intelligence and unity of three animals, the mother sparrow took revenge on the elephant for destroying her eggs.


Moral: Wit is superior to physical force.

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