|| An Indian folktale from Panchatantra ||
Once upon a time, a tiger was caught in a trap. He tried in vain to get out through the bars, and rolled and bit with rage and grief when he failed. By chance a poor man came by.
“Let me out of this cage, oh kind one!” cried the tiger.
“Nay, my friend,” replied the man mildly, “you would probably eat me if I did.”
“Not at all!” swore the tiger with many oaths. “On the contrary, I should be for ever grateful, and serve you as a slave!” Now when the tiger sobbed and sighed and wept and swore, the man’s heart softened, and at last he consented to open the door of the cage.
Out popped the tiger, and, seizing the poor man, cried, “What a fool you are! What is to prevent my eating you now. After being captured for so long I am just terribly hungry!”
The man pleaded for his life but try as he might, the tiger would not listen.
The most he could do was get the tiger to promise to listen to the judgement of the first three things he chose to question as to the justice of the tiger’s action.
So the Brahman and the tiger walked on till they came to a banyan tree; and the Brahman said to it, “Banyan tree, banyan tree, hear and give judgment.”
“On what must I give judgment ?” asked the banyan tree.
“This tiger,” said the Brahman,” begged me to let him out of his cage to drink a little water, and he promised not to hurt me if I did so. But now that I have let him out he wishes to eat me. Is it right that he should do that?”
The banyan tree answered, “Men often come to take refuge in the cool shade under my branches from the scorching rays of the sun; but when they have rested, they cut and break my pretty branches without a second thought. In the winter, they cut me up and use me for firewood. Let the tiger eat the man, for men are an ungrateful race!”
The tiger would have instantly killed the man; but the man reminded the tiger of his promise. And so they walked on. They met a camel after a while.
“Sir camel, sir camel,” cried the man, “hear and give judgment.”
“On what shall I give judgment?” asked the camel. And the man related the story of how the tiger he helped now wants to reward him with death.
The camel replied, “When I was young and strong, and could do much work, my master took care of me and gave me good food; but now that I am old, and have lost all my strength, he overloads, and starves me, and beats me without mercy. Let the tiger eat the man, for men are an unjust and cruel race.”
The man gave himself up as lost; but once more he prayed the tiger to have patience, and to let him ask one more opinion of the jackal.
The man again told his story and asked, “Mama jackal, mama jackal, say what is your judgment?”
The jackal answered, “It is impossible for me to decide who is in the right and who in the wrong, unless I see the exact position in which you were when the dispute began. Show me the place.”
So the man and the tiger returned to the place where they first met, and the jackal went with them.
When they got there, the jackal said the man, “Now, show me exactly where you stood.”
“Here,” said the man, standing by the iron tiger cage.
“Exactly there, was it?” asked the jackal.
“Exactly here,” pointed the man.
“Where was the tiger then?” asked the jackal.
“In the cage,” answered the tiger.
“How do you mean?” said the jackal.
“How were you within the cage? Which way were you looking?”
“Why, I stood so,” said the tiger, jumping into the cage, “and my head was on this side.”
“Very good,” said the jackal. “But I cannot judge without understanding the whole matter exactly. Was the cage door open or shut?”
“Shut, and bolted,” said the man.
“Then shut and bolt it,” said the jackal.
When the man had done this, the jackal said, “Oh, you wicked and ungrateful tiger, when the man helped you, you want to eat him? How are you different from the men you call selfish?”
The man started to thank the jackal when the jackal said to the man, ” We are not friends. You humans are not nice to my kin either. But you don’t deserve to die. Farewell, good man” So saying, the jackal ran off in one direction, and the man went in the other direction, very much relieved.
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