No. 179
The Deer and its Friends
At a certain time there were three years without rain. Because there was no rain, water everywhere was wanting. In the wilderness in the midst of the forest there was water at a single rock-hole. There a Deer drank water.
At the time when the Deer, having eaten and eaten food in the jungle, was going, he met with a Crow. The Crow said, “Friend, you are in health, as though without any want of food or water. For us there is not a drop of water for bathing or drinking. Anē! Merit will be attained.[1] Please tell me also the place where you drink water.” Thereupon he told the Crow the path to the rock-hole in which there is water.
At the time when the two are coming thus and drinking the water, the Woodpecker met them. “Friends, where do you drink water? Merit will be attained; tell me also,” the Woodpecker said. Afterwards they told the Woodpecker the path.
At the time when the three were drinking the water, a Turtle met them. The Turtle also asked, “Friend, where do you drink water? We indeed are going (lit. making) to die. Merit will be attained. Tell us, too, the place where you drink water.” They showed the path to the Turtle also.
Well then, at the time when the four were drinking the water, a Jackal met them. The Jackal says, “Friend, where do you drink water? There is no want of food and water for you, indeed. Anē! Merit will be attained; tell me also.”
[The animals] having shown the path to the Jackal also, while the five were drinking the water there, a Vaeddā having gone hunting also saw the water-hole. He saw that a Deer had drunk water at the water-hole. Having seen it, the Vaeddā thought, “I must catch this Deer.” He set a deer-hide noose there to catch the Deer. Well then, when the Deer was going [there] to drink water, the Deer was caught in that Vaeddā’s deer-hide noose.
The Turtle, and the Crow, and the Woodpecker, and the Jackal, these four friends, having come to drink water, when they looked the Deer had been caught.
Well then, the four having said, “Anē! Our friend who showed us the road to drink water to-day has been caught for killing,” the other three said to the Jackal, “Anē! Friend, you indeed are able to bite this fold of deer-hide.”