by Visnu Sarma
Finally, the great sage called a mouse and presented him as a suitor to the maiden. And he said with affection, ‘My dearest little one; does this suitor find favour in your eyes?’
She took one look and thought, ‘Ah! At last; one of my own kind.’ And her whole frame thrilled with joy as she looked at her father and said, ‘Oh! Yes! Dearest father; turn me into a mouse-girl and let me marry this mouse-boy, so that I can follow the ways of my own people, and keep house accordingly.’
The sage smiled and using his great powers gained through penance, changed the maiden back into a mouse.
‘Therefore, I said to you, “Having spurned the Sun for her husband…” and the rest of it,’ concluded Red Eye.
But the owl-king and his followers, bent upon their own line of action, disregarded Red Eye’s sage counsel and took Live Firm, the crow to their fortress, thus preparing the way for the destruction of their whole race. As he was being carried to the fortress of the owls, Live Firm, chuckling to himself, reflected with deep satisfaction:
(196) ‘There was but one amongst this whole lot
who had expert knowledge of statecraft
and understood its essential truths;
who had his master’s best interests at heart
and advised that I should be slain forthwith.
‘If these fellows had heeded his counsel and followed it, then not the slightest misfortune could have touched them.’
When the owls had arrived at the fortress-gate, their king, Foe Crusher, ordered his attendants thus. ‘Hey there, fellows, make available to the Honourable Minister, Live Firm, any chamber in our fortress that he asks for; for he is our well-wisher.’
Hearing the words of the King of Owls instructing his attendants, Live Firm, highly gratified, pondered over the next step. ‘I had better devise a good plan now for the destruction of these owls. Obviously, I cannot accomplish my purpose by living in their midst. For, if they should notice the slightest detail of my preparations and gain a hint of my intentions, it is certain to start them thinking. Then they would be on their guard. My best bet would be to stay close to the fortress-gate. Only by doing so can I hope to carry out my plan.’
Concluding that this was the best arrangement possible he addressed the King of Owls: ‘My lord,’ he began, ‘what Your Majesty has spoken just now is most laudable. But I am one who possesses sound political wisdom; and I am your sincere well-wisher. Even though I am lóyal and true, it is inappropriate for me to live within your fortress, right in its very heart. So, kindly permit me to take up my residence right here at the fortress-gate where I can serve you daily without fail with my body hallowed by the dust of Your Majesty’s lotus feet.’
The King of Owls assented to this proposition. Day after day the royal attendants gathered the best possible foods and by the command of their lord, they fed Live Firm on sumptuous meals of flesh so that in a few days he became strong as a peacock.
Now, Red Eye, who was keenly observing the manner in which the crow, Live Firm, was being fed, nourished and pampered, was truly amazed. He felt bound to speak out, to the owl-ministers and to the king himself. ‘Alas! Alas!’ he cried in despair, ‘What a pack of fools you ministers are; and you too, my lord. I am quite convinced of it. As the story tells it, the bird said:
(197) First it was I who was a fool
then the man who snared me, the fowler,
next it was the king himself
and then his minister
Oh! We were all a pack of fools.’
The entire court asked eagerly, ‘Oh? And how was that?’ Then Minister Red Eye began the tale of The Bird who dropped golden turd.
On one side of a certain mountain grew a mighty tree in which nested a fabulous bird whose droppings turned to pure gold. One day a fowler came along to that spot and right in front of him, suddenly, the bird let fall its droppings. And imagine his amazement when the droppings turned into gold as soon as it fell on the ground. ‘Good gracious,’ exclaimed the fowler. ‘For eighty long years, right from the time I was a mere child I have pursued my favourite pastime of snaring birds. Yet, in all this time, never have I seen bird droppings that turned to gold.’ He decided to snare the bird, and set a trap in the tree.
Later, the unwary bird came to its accustomed place with complete confidence and sat there only to find itself trapped. The fowler cut the strings in which it was entangled, shut it up in a cage and took it home. Then he fell to thinking. ‘This bird bodes evil for me; what am I doing bringing it home? Supposing that at some time or other someone finds out about the strangeness of this bird and reports it to the king. My life would be in danger then. I had better take this bird to the king myself and report the strange fact about it.’ Having decided that this was a wise course to follow, he took the bird to the king. No sooner had the king set eyes on it than he became ecstatic, with his eyes widening in delight like newly blossomed lotuses. ‘Who’s there? Hey guards, come quick,’ he called out, ‘See that this bird is looked after with the utmost care; give it whatever it needs to eat and drink, as much as it wants.’
The minister interposed at this point. Oh! My lord! What’s all this! What do you want with this thing hatched from an egg that you have accepted on trust based merely on some preposterous claim made by some fowler that its droppings turn to pure gold. Let this bird be released from its cage and set free.’
The king taking his minister’s counsel seriously, opened the cage and let the bird out. The bird flew up to the topmost arch of the gateway, sat on it just long enough to drop some turd which immediately turned to gold and spoke the following verse:
(198) ‘At first it was only I who was a fool!
Then it was the man who snared me, the fowler;
then it was His Royal Majesty
and then the prime minister!
Oh! What a pack of fools were we!’
Having recited this verse the bird happily winged his way through the air.
‘Therefore,’ concluded the Honourable Red Eye, ‘I too repeated the lines, “At first it was only I who was a fool…” and so on.’
But once again, the King of Owls and his entourage disregarded Red Eye’s words of wisdom, for they were driven by a hostile fate, and continued to sumptuously feed and nourish Live Firm on ample supplies of different kinds of flesh.
Red Eye now gathered his own kin and loyal henchmen round himself and spoke in secret with them with grave deliberation. ‘Alas! How lamentable! The well-being of our monarch and the security of our stronghold is no more. I have spoken out and counselled well as a hereditary minister of the dynasty is bound to do. Now it is time for us to depart and take shelter immediately in some other mountain-fortress. For, as we have heard:
(199) He rejoices who carefully prepares
for events yet to come.
He sorrows who is caught unawares
by events when they come.
Living in these woods I have grown old;
but, never ever before
has a cave been heard to roar.’
‘How was that ?’ clamoured his followers all together. And then Red Eye began the tale of The Talking Cave.
In a certain wooded region lived a lion named Razor-sharp Claws. Once he was roaming all through the woods looking for prey but he did not find a single creature, and his throat was pinched by hunger. At last at sunset, he chanced upon a cave and entering it, sat deep in thought.
‘Some creature or other is bound to find its way into this cave at night; no doubt about that. So let me lie here, quietly concealed,’ thought the lion.
And not long after, the master of the cave, a jackal named Curd Ear came and stood at the entrance, puffing and blowing.
‘Cave! Oh Cave! Oh Cave!’ he called out thrice. And then again he called out thrice to the cave. Then he fell silent. Again, he called out to the cave, this time he followed his calls with, ‘Don’t you remember me? Oh Cave! Don’t you recall the agreement we made once, you and I? That when I came fro
m the outside world I would call out to you, and that you would respond in kind? And today you do not return my greeting. Well, all right then; I shall leave and go to that other cave which I am sure will respond to my greeting.’
The lion listened to what the jackal had just said and began to think, ‘I see; obviously, this cave always calls out a greeting to welcome its master home. But today, out of fear of me, it remains silent. How aptly the wise saying phrases it:
(200) When fear grips the heart hard,
then hands and feet refuse to move;
great trembling seizes every limb
and the voice fades far away.
‘If I call out to the jackal and greet him, he will enter the cave according to the agreement and I can have him for dinner.’
Having come to this conclusion the lion roared out a tremendous greeting. The cave magnified the sound of his roaring until the echoes set up filled all directions right up to the far horizon. Even creatures living at a great distance hearing the sound were terrified and the jackal took to his heels, muttering the verse:
(201) ‘He rejoices who with care prepares
timely action for coming events.
He sorrows who is caught unawares
by events when they come upon him.
Living in these woods I have grown old:
but never ever before
has a cave been heard to roar.’
‘Taking this to heart, you had all better go with me.’ With these words, Red Eye, who had made up his mind, went to another far region followed by his family and adherents.
With Red Eye gone, Live Firm was overjoyed at the way things were working out and reflected with much satisfaction: ‘The departure from the fortress of Red Eye and his men is indeed a piece of great good fortune for us crows. For he was a truly far-sighted minister; the others are blithering fools. And they will become easy prey; I can despatch them with little trouble. As this verse states it with such wisdom:
(202) A monarch’s ruin is certain,
and it is not too distant,
if he is not served by ministers
lineally-descended and far-sighted.
‘Moreover, it is wisely observed:
(203) The learned and wise consider
him who discards right policy
to follow courses contrary,
a foe masquerading as minister.’
Having run through all these reflections, Live Firm started bringing faggots one by one each day to lay them in his own place, with the intention of setting fire to the owls’ cave-fortress. Nor did those incorrigibly foolish owls realize that the crow was building up his own place to burn down theirs.
(204) He who makes his foe a friend,
hates a friend and destroys him,
suffers the loss of all his friends:
a foe is a loss from the start,
Once Live Firm under the pretext of building his home at the fortress-gate had gathered a great pile of wood in it, he rose early one morning at sunrise when the owls were blind and flew quickly to meet Cloud Hue. ‘My lord,’ he began, ‘I have made the enemy’s cave vulnerable to fire. So arrange to come there with all your retinue, each one with a burning twig from the woods, and throw the twigs into my house at the enemy’s fortress-gate, so that all our enemies will die in torment like those baked in the Potter’s-Fiery-Oven-Hell.49
Hearing this Cloud Hue was overjoyed, ‘Father.’ he enquired. ‘Tell me everything that happened to you; for I haven’t seen you in ages.’
Live Firm replied, ‘My son; this is not the time for talk, in case some spy or other of the enemy reports my arrival here to his master, and that blind fellow having gained that information makes his escape by flying away to some safe spot. So, hurry, hurry up. As we have heard:
(205) The man who is tardy acting
where utmost speed is called for,
rouses the ire of gods who would set up
obstacles in his way; you can bank on that.
‘And besides:
(206) Time sucks the marrow
out of any enterprise
planned but not done with promptitude,
especially one about to bear fruit.
‘I shall tell you everything there is to tell, once all our enemies are slain and you are back home,’ concluded Live Firm.
Cloud Hue listened attentively to the minister’s advice and gathering his retinue flew to the cave of the owls where they threw one after the other the burning twigs from the woods that each one of them had carried in his beak, right into Live Firm’s house that stood at the fortress-gate. All the owls being blind by daytime now remembered Red Eye’s sage counsel as they were roasted alive like sinners in the hell known as Potter’s-Fiery-Oven. Having completely exterminated his enemies in this manner, Cloud Hue returned to his banyan-tree citadel once again.
Mounting the lion-throne, his heart bursting with exultation, he questioned Live Firm in the full assembly. ‘Father, how did you pass your time in the enemy’s midst? Tell us; for it is the truth that:
(207) Men of meritorious works deem it better
to plunge into a blazing fire
than pass even a single hour
mingling in enemy-society.’
Hearing Cloud Hue speak these words, Live Firm explained; ‘My gracious lord, listen,’ he said:
(208) ‘From fear of being laid low, a man
has recourse to any means that presents itself,
noble or mean that serves his interest best,
to follow it with fine-honed intelligence.
The diademed prince50 with a pair of armş
resembling the trunks of noble tuskers,
and deeply scarred by the recoiling bowstring;
that wielder, skilled, of the mighty bow,51 bound
with bracelets, like any woman, his wrists.
(209) Expecting better times, O, my king, the wise
though powerful, should always be prepared to dwell
even with persons, evil and vile, whose speech
falls fierce as thunderbolts: for did not Bhīma
of prodigious strength, toil in the kitchens
smoke-begrimed, of the fisher-king’s52 palace,
employed in wearisome, menial tasks, a cook
wielding a greasy ladle in his hand?
(210) A prudent man does the formidable deed
cherished in his heart, whatever it might be,
noble or despicable
with an eye to the future;
Did not the two-handed53 archer with palms
hardened by the flashing, far-stretched,
throbbing bowstring
of the mighty Gāndīva, wantonly dance54
wearing the dancer’s flashing jewelled belt?
(211) A wise man praying fervently for success
hides deep within, the fire of his spirit,
though possessed of courage and vigour;
he should stay his course keeping a close eye
on the workings of Fortune.
Did not the glorious son of the Law55 wander,
carrying the. triple-staff of the mendicant,
although his was high honour paid by brothers,
each the equal of the immortal lords,
Lords of War, Wealth and Death?56
(212) So too, Kuntī’s twin sons, of immense strength,
rich in beauty and of noble birth, served
at Virāṭa’s court doing menial tasks,
tending and herding cattle and horses.
(213) Did not Draupadī of matchless beauty,
blessed with youth, born of the noblest family,
radiant as the Goddess Herself of wealth
and beauty, struck by the turn of Fate
and fallen into a miserable state,
grind and rub sandal-paste
in the palace-courts of the fisher-king,
ordered around by haughty maidens
calling out, ‘Ho there! Sairandhrī.’57
‘So it is,’ replied Live Firm. ‘But I have never seen such a pack of fools as those owls, anywhere. Not one of them had any sense or imagination with the sole exception of Red Eye, who indeed possessed a keen intellect capable of ranging unobstructed over many fields of knowledge. I know this because I could see that he understood what my true intent and purposes were. As for the others, they were all such unmitigated fools merely making a living pretending to be wise counsellors, while in fact they possessed no expertise in statecraft. For they were even unaware of a simple fact such as this; that:
(214) A retainer from the enemy’s camp,
a deserter anxious to become part
(215) of those he tries to curry favour with,
is a villain, false and malcontent,
untrue to his own nature and kin.
Enemy spies scarcely show themselves;
(216) ever watchful for signs of negligence
displayed perchance by an enemy as he
takes his ease or sleeps, or walks around;
in what he eats and drinks as well, and strike him down,
A wise man should therefore make every effort
to be vigilant; and protect his self,
that abode of the three58 existential pursuits:
It is through negligence that men come to naught.
‘And how full of wisdom is this observation:
(217) What bad minister is not guilty
of bad diplomacy?
Who living on unwholesome foods
does not fall prey to disease?
Whom does Fortune not make haughty?
whom does Death not lay low?
Who addicted to inordinate pleasures
does not burn with pain and sorrow?
(218) The stubborn forfeit fame,
the irritable friendship;
those who labour fruitlessly
lose their family;
Obsession with money
is virtue’s bane;
the miser loses peace of mind;
those out of luck the rewards of learning;
and the monarch whose minister