Once all the Birds in the world met together. The purpose of the meeting was this : The King of all Birds was Garuda, the white-necked Kite and Bird-vehicle of Lord Sri Narayana. Because he was moving in such a high society of the great God Himself he did not care about the welfare of the other Birds. So, the Birds thought that there was no use in having as their King a person who did not care about them. So they met together to choose a King capable of protecting them. Of all the Birds present there, the Owl had a huge personality. So all of them decided to have him as their King.
From then on, arrangements were made quickly to make the Owl, the King of Birds. Some Birds brought Holy Waters from Sacred Rivers. Some made beautiful garlands. Some decorated the Throne. The ground was cleaned. Tiger’s skin was spread. Lights were illuminated, and the whole place wore a festive look.
The Owl and his wife dressed themselves well and were sitting in the midst of all Birds. The function to declare him the King was about to begin. Just at that time, a Crow came there flying from somewhere. When he saw all the preparations, he asked, “Friends, what are all these preparations for?”
On the arrival of the Crow, the other birds thought, “The Crow is a very clever Bird. It is a pity that we did not hear his views beforehand. At least now, let us know his views about the choice of our King.” They then told him about the uselessness of Garuda, the white-necked Kite as their King and their having chosen the Owl to be their King.
On hearing this the Crow began to laugh loudly and said, “Friends, what a great mistake you were about to commit? There are many other Birds like the graceful Swan, the pretty Peacock, the sweet-voiced Cuckoo, the beautiful multi-coloured Parrot, etc. etc. We ought to have chosen one of them to be our king. Forgetting them all, you have after all chosen a blind Bird, the Owl to be our King, I do not at all approve of this. He is having a face showing signs of anger, bent nose and a crooked vision. How did you decide to choose him as our King? And, where is the need for choosing a King at all? The fact that Garuda is our King will alone be enough. Nobody will dare to do any harm to us. He is a great personality. He knows when to protect us and how to protect us. Is it not a great privilege for us to call the Bird-vehicle of the Great God Himself, as our King? So let us altogether drop the idea of choosing another King in place of our Mighty Garuda. Further this Owl is wicked by nature, lazy and bears ill-will to others. We will have no good by having him as our King. On the other hand many great evils may come to us by having him as our King. . I have told you what appeared right to my mind. Then it is left to you to heed it or not to heed it.”
Then all the Birds felt that the Crow came at the proper time and gave them sound advice. So they all dropped the idea of making the Owl as their King and left that place at once.
The Owl that was about to be chosen as King was not only blind, but deaf also. He was feeling glad that he was about to be crowned as King and did not know or hear any thing of what the Crow said. But his wife was able to hear what all the Crow said. Then the Owl said, “Who are all there? Why are you delaying? Go ahead with the crowning ceremony.” Hearing this the wife said, “There Is nobody here except you and me. All others have gone.” “Why ?” asked the husband Owl. “For,” replied the wife, “a Crow came flying from somewhere, gave them a lecture against making you the King of the Birds and stopped the function. So, let us also go away from here.” The Owl then declared, “The Crow has unnecessarily interfered and stopped my becoming the King. He becomes my enemy from today onwards and I shall do everything to destroy the tribe of Crows.”
The Crow was overhearing this and felt sorry for his action. He regretted very much for having earned enmity and bad name unnecessarily.
The moral of this story is:
However powerful and intelligent a person may be, he should not create enmity with others. Simply because the Doctor and Medicines are ready at hand, nobody will swallow poison boldly.
--INDIAN FABLES OF MORAL FROM PANCHATANTRA --
From then on, arrangements were made quickly to make the Owl, the King of Birds. Some Birds brought Holy Waters from Sacred Rivers. Some made beautiful garlands. Some decorated the Throne. The ground was cleaned. Tiger’s skin was spread. Lights were illuminated, and the whole place wore a festive look.
The Owl and his wife dressed themselves well and were sitting in the midst of all Birds. The function to declare him the King was about to begin. Just at that time, a Crow came there flying from somewhere. When he saw all the preparations, he asked, “Friends, what are all these preparations for?”
On the arrival of the Crow, the other birds thought, “The Crow is a very clever Bird. It is a pity that we did not hear his views beforehand. At least now, let us know his views about the choice of our King.” They then told him about the uselessness of Garuda, the white-necked Kite as their King and their having chosen the Owl to be their King.
On hearing this the Crow began to laugh loudly and said, “Friends, what a great mistake you were about to commit? There are many other Birds like the graceful Swan, the pretty Peacock, the sweet-voiced Cuckoo, the beautiful multi-coloured Parrot, etc. etc. We ought to have chosen one of them to be our king. Forgetting them all, you have after all chosen a blind Bird, the Owl to be our King, I do not at all approve of this. He is having a face showing signs of anger, bent nose and a crooked vision. How did you decide to choose him as our King? And, where is the need for choosing a King at all? The fact that Garuda is our King will alone be enough. Nobody will dare to do any harm to us. He is a great personality. He knows when to protect us and how to protect us. Is it not a great privilege for us to call the Bird-vehicle of the Great God Himself, as our King? So let us altogether drop the idea of choosing another King in place of our Mighty Garuda. Further this Owl is wicked by nature, lazy and bears ill-will to others. We will have no good by having him as our King. On the other hand many great evils may come to us by having him as our King. . I have told you what appeared right to my mind. Then it is left to you to heed it or not to heed it.”
Then all the Birds felt that the Crow came at the proper time and gave them sound advice. So they all dropped the idea of making the Owl as their King and left that place at once.
The Owl that was about to be chosen as King was not only blind, but deaf also. He was feeling glad that he was about to be crowned as King and did not know or hear any thing of what the Crow said. But his wife was able to hear what all the Crow said. Then the Owl said, “Who are all there? Why are you delaying? Go ahead with the crowning ceremony.” Hearing this the wife said, “There Is nobody here except you and me. All others have gone.” “Why ?” asked the husband Owl. “For,” replied the wife, “a Crow came flying from somewhere, gave them a lecture against making you the King of the Birds and stopped the function. So, let us also go away from here.” The Owl then declared, “The Crow has unnecessarily interfered and stopped my becoming the King. He becomes my enemy from today onwards and I shall do everything to destroy the tribe of Crows.”
The Crow was overhearing this and felt sorry for his action. He regretted very much for having earned enmity and bad name unnecessarily.
The moral of this story is:
However powerful and intelligent a person may be, he should not create enmity with others. Simply because the Doctor and Medicines are ready at hand, nobody will swallow poison boldly.
--INDIAN FABLES OF MORAL FROM PANCHATANTRA --
