So, king, why do creatures like you fear a mere sound? If you approve, I will go there to investigate the matter.” When Damanaka said this, the lion answered, “Go there, by all means, if you dare;” so Damanaka went to the bank of the Yamuná. While he was roaming slowly about there, guided by the sound, he discovered that bull eating grass. So he went near him, and made acquaintance with him, and came back, and told the lion the real state of the ease. The lion Pingalaka was delighted and said, “If you have really seen that great ox, and made friends with him, bring him here by some artifice, that I may see what he is like.” So he sent Damanaka back to that bull. Damanaka went to the bull and said—“Come! our master, the king of beasts is pleased to summon you,” but the bull would not consent to come, for he was afraid. Then the jackal again returned to the forest, and induced his master the lion to grant the bull assurance of protection. And he went and encouraged Sanjívaka with this promise of protection, and so brought him into the presence of the lion. And when the lion saw him come and bow before him, he treated him with politeness, and said—“Remain here now about my person, and entertain no fear.” And the bull consented, and gradually gained such an influence over the lion, that he turned his back on his other dependents, and was entirely governed by the bull.
Then Damanaka, being annoyed, said to Karaṭaka in secret: “See! our master has been taken possession of by Sanjívaka, and does not trouble his head about us. He eats his flesh alone, and never gives us a share. And the fool is now taught his duty by this bull.[5] It was I that caused all this mischief by bringing this bull. So I will now take steps to have him killed, and to reclaim our master from his unbecoming infatuation.” When Karaṭaka heard this from Damanaka, he said—“Friend, even you will not be able to do this now.” Then Damanaka said—“I shall certainly be able to accomplish it by prudence. What can he not do whose prudence does not fail in calamity? As a proof, hear the story of the makara[6] that killed the crane.”
Story of the crane and the Makara.[7]
Of old time there dwelt a crane in a certain tank rich in fish; and the fish in terror used to flee out of his sight. Then the crane, not being able to catch the fish, told them a lying tale: “There has come here a man with a net who kills fish. He will soon catch you with a net and kill you. So act on my advice, if you repose any confidence in me. There is in a lonely place a translucent lake, it is unknown to the fishermen of these parts; I will take you there one by one, and drop you into it, that you may live there.” When those foolish fish heard that, they said in their fear—“Do so, we all repose confidence in you.” Then the treacherous crane took the fish away one by one, and, putting them down on a rock, devoured in this way many of them.
Then a certain makara dwelling in that lake, seeing him carrying off fish, said:—“Whither are you taking the fish?” Then that crane said to him exactly what he had said to the fish. The makara,[8] being terrified, said—“Take me there too.” The crane’s intellect was blinded with the smell of his flesh, so he took him up, and soaring aloft carried him towards the slab of rock. But when the makara got near the rock, he saw the fragments of the bones of the fish that the crane had eaten, and he perceived that the crane was in the habit of devouring those who reposed confidence in him. So no sooner was the sagacious makara put down on the rock, than with complete presence of mind he cut off the head of the crane. And he returned and told the occurrence, exactly as it happened, to the other fish, and they were delighted, and hailed him as their deliverer from death.
“Prudence indeed is power, so what has a man, devoid of prudence, to do with power? Hear this other story of the lion and the hare.”
Story of the lion and the hare.[9]
There was in a certain forest a lion, who was invincible, and sole champion of it, and whatever creature he saw in it, he killed. Then all the animals, deer and all, met and deliberated together, and they made the following petition to that king of beasts—“Why by killing us all at once do you ruin your own interests? We will send you one animal every day for your dinner.” When the lion heard this, he consented to their proposal, and as he was in the habit of eating one animal every day, it happened that it was one day the lot of a hare to present himself to be eaten. The hare was sent off by the united animals, but on the way the wise creature reflected—“He is truly brave who does not become bewildered even in the time of calamity, so, now that Death stares me in the face, I will devise an expedient.” Thus reflecting, the hare presented himself before the lion late. And when he arrived after his time, the lion said to him: “Hola! how is this that you have neglected to arrive at my dinner hour, or what worse penalty than death can I inflict on you, scoundrel?” When the lion said this, the hare bowed before him, and said: “It is not my fault, your Highness, I have not been my own master to-day, for another lion detained me on the road, and only let me go after a long interval.” When the lion heard that, he lashed his tail, and his eyes became red with anger, and he said: “Who is that second lion? Shew him me.” The hare said: “Let your Majesty come and see him.” The lion consented and followed him. Thereupon the hare took him away to a distant well. “Here he lives, behold him,” said the hare, and when thus addressed by the hare, the lion looked into the well, roaring all the while with anger. And seeing his own reflexion in the clear water, and hearing the echo of his own roar, thinking that there was a rival lion there roaring louder than himself,[10] he threw himself in a rage into the well, in order to kill him, and there the fool was drowned. And the hare, having himself escaped death by his wisdom, and having delivered all the animals from it, went and delighted them by telling his adventure.