Saturday, May 11, 2013

Fables from the Panchatantra - The Musical Donkey

   This is one of the interesting fables from the Panchatantra collection.The Panchatantra is very well known fables collection in India. In every story of the Panchatantra, there must be an educational lesson and we consider as a moral of the story.
fables from the panchatantra-the musical donkey
The Musical Donkey

  The Musical Donkey

   Once upon a time, there lived a washer man in a village. The washer man had a thin donkey. The donkey used to work for the washer man and carry loads of clothes to the river bank by the day. The donkey was not satisfied with the food that was provided by the washer man. In the nights, he usually wandered in the fields nearby and ate the crops stealthily.

   One night, the donkey met a jackal and made friends with him. Both of them went out in search of food. They found a field full of cucumbers and had them to their full. They were happy to found a nice place for their food and decided that they would come daily to eat cucumbers. Now daily, they came to the field to have cucumbers. Soon, the donkey started looking healthy and fat.

   One day night, after a tasty meal of cucumbers, the donkey was extremely happy. He was so happy that he got a passionate desire to sing a song. He told the jackal that he was overwhelmed and wanted to express his happiness in a melodious song. The jackal immediately replied, "Don't be a fool. If you sing, the guards sleeping in and around this field will wake up and beat us black and blue with sticks”.
   The donkey insisted on singing. The jackal again warned him not to do any foolish act. The donkey said, “You are a dull fellow. Singing makes one happy and healthy. No matter what comes, I'll definitely sing a song."

The jackal told him that his voice was not sweet. The donkey thought that the jackal was jealous of him. The jackal once again warned him that if he would sing, the guards would come and reward him in the way, might be that he would not like.

fables from the panchatantra-the musical donkey
The Musical Donkey

   But the donkey could not stop himself from singing. Seeing the donkey to sing, the jackal said to him, "Friend, wait a minute. First, let me jump over to the other side of the fence for my safety."

   The jackal decided to wait outside the garden. On hearing a donkey harshly in the field, the guard woke up from his sleep. He picked up his stick lying by his side and rushed out to beat him. The donkey was braying happily, unknown about the danger.

   The angry guard found the donkey and beat him so mercilessly that he was physically injured temporarily. Somehow, the donkey managed to drag himself out of the field to the waiting jackal.

   The jackal looked at the donkey and said in a sympathetic tone, “I am sorry to see you in this pathetic condition. I had already warned you, but you didn't listen to my advice."

   The donkey realized his mistake and felt sorry for not listening to the good advice of his friend.



Moral of the story: Think before you act.





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