A History of Sanskrit Literature c18.s3.4

c18.s3.4

Book ii of the winning of friends is perhaps more attractive. It opens with the tale of the clever king of the doves, Bright-neck, who saves his retinue from the hunter's net by making them all fly up with it and then has the bonds cut by the mouse, Goldy, being careful to have his cut last. We learn next how the crow, Lightwing, makes friends with Goldy, and is introduced to his old friend, the tortoise Sluggish. Goldy then explains why he left his first home; his tale (1) explains that he used to eat the alms begged by a monk despite the efforts of the unfortunate to put it out of his reach; a friend comes and tells the monk that the strength of the mouse must have some cause, just as there was a reason for mother Çāṇḍilī exchanging husked rice for husked rice. The allusion is explained in Tale 2; a Brahmin bade his wife prepare to feed Brahmins at the change of moon, and to override her objections on the score of economy, tells Tale 3, the story of the over-greedy jackal who, having as food a boar, deer, and hunter, nibbled the end of the bowstring which killed him by splitting his throat. The Brahmin's wife yields, but a dog snuffs and defiles the sesame prepared, so she sends the pupil of her husband to exchange it for other husked rice, evoking from the master of the house where the effort to exchange is made the adage alluded to. The monk then proceeds to search for the cause of the mouse's might and finds it in a store of gold in the mouse's home which gave him magic power. This taken away, the mouse is rendered weak, and, unable to feed his followers, is abandoned by them and gives up the delusion of desiring power and riches. A fourth friend is now added in the shape of a deer; but, wandering one day, it is caught in a snare, and, inappropriately it may be admitted, while waiting to be freed gratifies its curious friends by telling how, when young, it had been kept in captivity by a prince, until one day urged to human utterance by desire for freedom it so startled the prince that he fell afevered and only recovered when he was told the truth of the voice he had heard and released the deer. The comrades now release the deer, but the tortoise is surprised by the hunter's advent, and has to be rescued by a clever ruse on the part of the deer who pretends to be dead.