14. Hitopadesh -The Crows, Black Snake And The Golden Chain

Long ago a crow married a female crow. They built their nest on a tree in the forest.

After few days, the she crow laid eggs. The eggs hatched and they had three offspring. They made a happy family.

The tree on which they lived had a hollow, where a large cobra lived.

One afternoon when the parent crows went out in search of food, the cobra crept out and swallowed their offspring.

When the crows returned, they found their young one's missing. The mother crow was sad and cried a lot.

After few months, she laid eggs again. The mother bird remembered how her offspring went missing earlier, so she kept close watch on her nest. She observed that a cobra came out from the hollow of the tree. It kept to her nest and swallowed their eggs.

In the evening, when the male crow returned, she told him about the cobra who lived in the hollow of the same tree.

The mother crow was worried and she told the male crow that they should leave the nest. She requested the crow to leave the tree and suggested that they should build their nest elsewhere.

The male crow was clever and wise. He told the mother crow, “We should run away from the problem. What if we find more dangerous enemies elsewhere? Although the cobra is more powerful than us, we can get rid of it by planning carefully”.

He then told his wife a plan. He said, “The princess comes to bathe in river every morning. Tomorrow when she comes, and removed her jewels, pick up her gold chain and drop it in the hollow”.

Next morning when the princess arrived and removed her jewels, the she crow flew away with her gold chain. She dropped it the hollow and sat on the tree top to see what happened.

The princess's servants, who came chasing the she crow, saw that she dropped the gold chain in the hollow.

They began searching the hollow and found a cobra resting there. The cobra crept out and fanged its tongue. Sensing danger, the princess's servants killed the snake. They took the gold chain and went back.

The parent crows were happy that the cobra was punished was his wrong doings and was killed.

Moral: Defeat your enemies by thinking and acting wisely.