Story of the monkey and the porpoise.[5]
There lived in a forest of uḍumbaras, on the shore of the sea, a king of monkeys, named Valímukha, who had strayed from his troop. While he was eating an uḍumbara fruit, it fell from his hand and was devoured by a porpoise that lived in the water of the sea. The porpoise, delighted at the taste of the fruit, uttered a melodious sound, which pleased the monkey so much, that he threw him many more fruits. And so the monkey went on throwing fruits,[6] and the porpoise went on making a melodious sound, until a friendship sprang up between them. So every day the porpoise spent the day in the water near the monkey, who remained on the bank, and in the evening he went home.
Then the wife of the porpoise came to learn the facts, and as she did not approve of the friendship between the monkey and her husband, which caused the latter to be absent all day, she pretended to be ill. Then the porpoise was afflicted, and asked his wife again and again what was the nature of her sickness, and what would cure it. Though he importuned her persistently, she would give no answer, but at last a female confidante of hers said to him: “Although you will not do it, and she does not wish you to do it, still I must speak. How can a wise person conceal sorrow from friends? A violent disease has seized your wife, of such a kind that it cannot be cured without soup made of the lotus-like heart of a monkey.”[7] When the porpoise heard this from his wife’s confidante, he reflected;—“Alas! how shall I obtain the lotus-like heart of a monkey? Is it right for me to plot treachery against the monkey, who is my friend? On the other hand how else can I cure my wife, whom I love more than my life?” When the porpoise had thus reflected, he said to his wife; “I will bring you a whole monkey, my dear, do not be unhappy.” When he had said this, he went to his friend the monkey, and said to him, after he had got into conversation; “Up to this day you have never seen my home and my wife; so come, let us go and rest there one day. Friendship is but hollow, when friends do not go without ceremony and eat at one another’s houses, and introduce their wives to one another.” With these words the porpoise beguiled the monkey, and induced him to come down into the water, and took him on his back and set out. And as he was going along, the monkey saw that he was troubled and confused, and said, “My friend, you seem to be altered to-day.” And when he went on persistently enquiring the reason, the stupid porpoise, thinking that the ape was in his power, said to him; “The fact is, my wife is ill, and she has been asking me for the heart of a monkey to be used as a remedy; that is why I am in low spirits to-day.” When the wise monkey heard this speech of his, he reflected, “Ah! This is why the villain has brought me here! Alas! this fellow is overpowered by infatuation for a female, and is ready to plot treachery against his friend. Will not a person possessed by a demon eat his own flesh with his teeth?” After the monkey had thus reflected, he said to the porpoise; “If this is the case, why did you not inform me of this before, my friend? I will go and get my heart for your wife. For I have at present left it on the uḍumbara-tree on which I live.[8] When the silly porpoise heard this, he was sorry and he said; “Then bring it, my friend, from the uḍumbara-tree.” And thereupon the porpoise took him back to the shore of the sea. When he got there, he bounded up the bank, as if he had just escaped from the grasp of death, and climbing up to the top of the tree, said to that porpoise, “Off with you, you fool! Does any animal keep his heart outside his body? However, by this artifice I have saved my life, and I will not return to you. Have you not heard, my friend, the story of the ass?”
Story of the sick lion, the jackal, and the ass.[9]
There lived in a certain forest a lion, who had a jackal for a minister. A certain king, who had gone to hunt, once found him, and wounded him so sorely with his weapons, that he with difficulty escaped to his den alive. When the king was gone, the lion still remained in the den, and his minister, the jackal, who lived on his leavings, being exhausted for want of food, said to him; “My lord, why do you not go out and seek for food to the best of your ability, for your own body is being famished as well as your attendants?” When the jackal said this to the lion, he answered; “My friend, I am exhausted with wounds, and I cannot roam about outside my den. If I could get the heart and ears of a donkey to eat, my wounds would heal, and I should recover my former health. So go and bring me a donkey quickly from somewhere or other.” The jackal agreed to do so and sallied out. As he was wandering about, he found a washerman’s ass in a solitary place, and he went up to him, and said in a friendly way; “Why are you so exhausted?” The donkey answered, “I am reduced by perpetually carrying this washerman’s load.” The jackal said, “Why do you endure all this toil? Come with me and I will take you to a forest as delightful as Heaven, where you may grow fat in the society of she-asses.” When the donkey, who was longing for enjoyment, heard this, he went to the forest, in which that lion ranged, in the company of that jackal. And when the lion saw him, being weak from impaired vitality, he only gave him a blow with his paw behind, and the donkey, being wounded by the blow, was terrified and fled immediately, and did not come near the lion again, and the lion fell down confused and bewildered. And then the lion, not having accomplished his object, hastily returned to his den. Then the jackal, his minister, said to him reproachfully; “My lord, if you could not kill this miserable donkey, what chance is there of your killing deer and other animals?” Then the lion said to him, “If you know how, bring that donkey again. I will be ready and kill him.”
When the lion had despatched the jackal with these words, he went to the donkey and said; “Why did you run away, sir? And the donkey answered, “I received a blow from some creature.” Then the jackal laughed and said, “You must have experienced a delusion. There is no such creature there, for I, weak as I am, dwell there, in safety. So come along with me to that forest, where pleasure is without restraint.”[10] When he said this, the donkey was deluded, and returned to the forest. And as soon as the lion saw him, he came out of his den, and springing on him from behind, tore him with his claws and killed him. And the lion, after he had divided the donkey, placed the jackal to guard it, and being fatigued, went away to bathe. And in the meanwhile the deceitful jackal devoured the heart and ears of that donkey, to gratify his appetite. The lion, after bathing, came back, and perceiving the donkey in this condition, asked the jackal where its ears and heart were. The jackal answered him; “The creature never possessed ears or a heart,—otherwise how could he have returned when he had once escaped?” When the lion heard that, he believed it, and ate his flesh, and the jackal devoured what remained over.
When the ape had told this tale, he said again to the porpoise; “I will not come again, why should I behave like the jackass.” When the porpoise heard this from the monkey, he returned home, grieving that he had through his folly failed to execute his wife’s commission, while he had lost a friend. But his wife recovered her former tranquillity, on account of the termination of her husband’s friendship with the ape. And the ape lived happily on the shore of the sea.
“So a wise person should place no confidence in a wicked person. How can he, who confides in a wicked person or a black cobra, enjoy prosperity?” When Gomukha had told this story, he again said to Naraváhanadatta, to amuse him; “Now hear in succession about the following ridiculous fools. Hear first about the fool who rewarded the minstrel.”