Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.1787

c8.1787

All the three, the crow, the rat and the tortoise lived together happily. Then one day a deer named Citrāṅgada escaping from a hunter came frightened to their midst and started living with them. One day the deer which went in search of food did not return even after dusk and so the crow went in search of the deer and found it trapped in a hunter’s net. The crow informed the rat about it and the rat immediately came and started gnawing at the strings of the net. In the meantime the tortoise desirous of knowing the plight of Citrāṅgada crawled to the place of accident. The rat had already torn to pieces the net and the crow and the rat said that it was unwise of Manthara to have come so far crawling as there was danger from the hunter coming to the place soon. Before the deer could endorse the views of his friends the hunter came to the scene. The deer, the crow and the rat escaped. The hunter saw the crawling tortoise and caught it. Binding it with a string the hunter placed it on the ground. In the meantime the friends of Manthara who had escaped hit upon a plan to rescue the tortoise. The deer lay down pretending to be dead at a place far away from the place but within the sight of the hunter. The crow sat perched on its body as if pecking at its flesh. The hunter saw it and went to take the dead body of the deer. The moment the hunter turned away from the tortoise the rat went and cut the string binding the tortoise and set it free. Before the hunter reached the deer it ran away. So all were saved. This is the benefit of having good friends.