Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.1774

c8.1774

Even after hearing all these, Piṅgalaka did not have the heart to abandon the ox. Piṅgalaka asked what a poor bullock could do against a lion. Damanaka then said that one would come into grief if one believed too much in any body. "Have you not heard the story of the louse which believed the bug?" Damanaka asked. Then he narrated a story. "Mandavisarpiṇī was a louse which was living happily on the silken bed of a King. A bug went there and made friends with the louse. The poor louse believed the bug to be harmless and allowed it to stay that night with him. The bug said that it was very greedy to suck the blood of the King. At night the bug bit the King. The King woke up and ordered his servants to search for the thing that bit him. When lights were brought the clever bug slipped away. The royal servants conducting the search found out the louse and killed it."