Ten Stories from the Panchatantra
Illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat
Overland, sea and sky, the wonderful creatures of this world come in many different shapes and sizes. The story I’m going to tell you now is about one of the biggest and the smallest of them all.
Once upon a time in a faraway land, there was a city that had fallen into ruin. The people who lived there had left long ago, and the jungle had begun to creep back in.
Ivy curled around the tumbledown houses, and trees pushed their way up through cracks in the roads where carts had once travelled.
This crumbling city was home to an enormous family of mice. There had always been mice here, hidden away under floorboards and in forgotten spaces behind walls, but now they had no need to hide and lived their lives happily and peacefully together.
Other animals lived in the city too – tigers and tortoises, and a hundred different birds –but the mice were the oldest and most respected family. Although they were very small, they were clever, and the other animals often went to them to ask for help with their problems.
One day, a huge herd of travelling elephants approached the city walls, on their way to the river to drink. Usually, the elephants would have gone around the city, but this particular day was so very hot, and the elephants were so very thirsty that the King of the Elephants decided to march straight through the heart of the city.
But – oh! – what were the poor mice to do? They scurried away in fear as the elephants thundered through the streets, crushing their little mouse houses beneath their enormous feet. “Stop! Watch out!” called the terrified mice. But they were so tiny the elephants didn’t even notice them or hear their desperate cries.
As the last of the elephants went crashing out through the city gates, the mice looked around in dismay at their flattened homes. They gathered in front of their leader.
“Oh, Prince of Mice,” they said, “look what the elephants have done. What will happen if they come through our city again?”
The prince raised a paw. “Don’t worry,” he reassured them. “I will go and speak to the King of the Elephants.”
The Prince of Mice found the elephants calmly drinking at the river, unaware of the damage they had done. Their king was standing in the shade of a tall tree, glad to be cool at last. The Mouse Prince climbed up to the highest branch until he was face to face with the giant. He trembled as he found himself looking into brown eyes that were almost as big as he was. But the mice were all depending on him . . .
The prince drew himself up to his full height. “Dearest King Elephant,” he began politely, “won’t you hear this little mouse speak?”
The King of the Elephants was startled. “What can I do for you, little mouse?” he boomed.
“Good King,” the prince replied, “when you walk through our city, you break our homes and frighten our family. We would be so grateful if you found a different route. In return, we promise to be your friends and to help you if ever you are in need.”
The Elephant King laughed so loudly that the tree shook. “Little mouse,” he said, “why would elephants need your help when you are so tiny and we are so big? But you are brave, it’s true, and so I will do as you request and lead my herd another way.”
The Prince of Mice smiled and thanked the Elephant King. He returned to the city, and the mice began to rebuild their damaged homes. The elephants were true to their word and did not come through the city again.
Months passed, and the memory of that terrible day soon faded, until it became just a story the mice told their children.
Then one night, when the mice were fast asleep, a loud trumpeting sound echoed across the city. “ TARAAAAAA! TARAAAAAA!”
The frightened mice all rushed into the streets to see what was happening. The prince, who was older now and had become a king himself, was puzzled at first . . . then he understood . . .
“Follow me!” he commanded. “We have a promise to keep!”
The trumpeting sound led the mice to the river, where a terrible sight met their eyes. The entire herd of elephants were trapped under huge, strong hunter’s nets. They were trumpeting in alarm, their desperate cries echoing through the jungle.
“Quick!” the Mouse King told the other mice. “The hunters might return at any moment! We must chew through the nets and free our friends.”
The mice ran to the nets and swiftly . . . skilfully . . . used their sharp little teeth to bite through the tough cords.
As one by one the elephants shook themselves free, they trumpeted in delight, “ TARANTARAAAA!” and stamped their great feet. Then the baby elephants helped all the mice up onto their backs and gently . . . carefully . . . carried their kind little friends back home to the city.
As they said their goodbyes, the King of the Elephants bowed low before the Mouse King. “Thank you, good King Mouse,” he said. “I was wrong to think that elephants are greater than mice. Though you are small, you are mighty, and we will be forever grateful to our friends the mice for helping us when we needed you most.”
So, like animals, friends can come in all shapes and sizes, too. And those brave, kind little mice showed that the smallest can often be the mightiest of all. Not everyone, you see, is as they first appear.
Ofall the wild places on this wonderful earth, I think the Sea is the most beautiful of all. She is home to thousands of beautiful animals, fish and birds –playful dolphins, noisy seagulls and mighty whales! But did you know the Sea can have a terrible temper? Let me tell you the story of a little lapwing and how he made the Sea so angry . . .
Long Legs and his wife, Happy Eyes – two little black and white lapwing birds with beautiful feather crests – had lived all their lives on the golden sands of the seashore.
One bright spring morning, Happy Eyes turned to Long Legs and said, “Dear love, I have some wonderful news. Summer is almost here, and the time has come for us to start a family. Will you build a strong, safe nest where I can lay our eggs?”
“A family of our own!” cried Long Legs. “Oh, I will start at once. It will be the best nest ever made.” And before Happy Eyes could say another word, off he flew.
Long Legs carefully wove the nest from sticks and decorated it with ruby red flowers. Then he filled the inside with soft, warm hay. The little bird worked all day and all night to build a beautiful, warm nest on the seashore for his wife to lay their eggs in.
When, finally, it was finished, Long Legs brought Happy Eyes to show her what he had built. “Have you ever seen a finer nest?” he asked her proudly. But to his dismay, Happy Eyes did not look happy at all.
“What is wrong, my love?” he asked. “Do you not think this nest is good enough?”
“Oh no, this nest is beautiful, Long Legs,” Happy Eyes said sadly, “but I cannot lay our eggs here.”
Long Legs was surprised. He looked at Happy Eyes and then at the nest, then back again. But he couldn’t see anything wrong with the nest he had made with such care.
“Don’t you see, husband,” said Happy Eyes gently, “if we lay our eggs so close to the Sea, she may wash our children away with her waves.”
“Well,” said Long Legs, fluffing up his feathers crossly. “So you say. But, well, I really think this is a very fine nest, and anyway . . . the Sea wouldn’t dare do anything to harm my family!”
Happy Eyes frowned. She looked at the waves rolling across the golden sands and then at the beautiful nest so close beside them. Still, she loved Long Legs and he had worked so hard. Perhaps their eggs would be safe there after all . . . So, without another word, she settled down to lay one . . . two . . . three perfect little eggs, in the soft, warm nest. And the two lapwing parents had never felt so happy and proud.
But the Sea had been listening to the birds’ conversation, and she had been angered by Long Legs’ rudeness.
When the lapwings went to go searching for food, she swept across the sand. Her tides slowly rose and like quick blue fingers stole the three perfect little eggs and ruined the lapwings’ nest.
When Happy Eyes and Long Legs returned, they were so upset to see that their nest was empty. “Our precious eggs,” wept Happy Eyes. “The Sea has washed them away, as I told you she would. Why ever did I listen to you?”
Long Legs hung his head, his feathered crest drooping in shame.
But Long Legs was determined to make things right. Without another word, he flew out to the Sea. “Oh Lady Sea,” he called. “Please, I beg you, return my children to me.”
The Sea swelled in anger as she watched the little bird fly above her and her waves rolled and crashed against the shore as she spoke. “Little bird, do you dare approach me after the disrespect you have shown? Your eggs are lost forever. Fly away and do not bother me again.”
“Good Lady Sea,” Long Legs pleaded. “I am sorry for my foolish words. But please, do not punish my wife because of my mistake.”
The sea looked back to the land and saw Happy Eyes weeping. Still the Sea’s waves rolled and rolled, but as she watched the heartbroken little bird her anger softened, and her waters calmed as she spoke to Long Legs again. “I will return your eggs to you,” said the Sea, “but on one condition . . . ”
“I will do anything you ask!” said Long Legs quickly.
“In future you must promise to show more respect,” the Sea replied, “and listen to the good advice of those who love you.”
“I promise.” Long Legs eagerly nodded, and so the Sea gently washed the three perfect eggs back on to the shore, where Happy Eyes joyfully received them.
As you can imagine, Happy Eyes was rather cross with Long Legs when he returned, but she was so happy to have the eggs back safely that she soon forgave him. Long Legs built a new nest, and this time the couple chose the spot together – a sheltered hollow high up the shoreline, far out of reach of the Sea. Soon it was home to three perfect fluffy little chicks.
The proud parents took care to teach their family the lessons the Sea had taught them. Can you think what those might be? How important it is to listen to the good advice of those who care about you, but above all to trust what your own good sense tells you, even when that means disagreeing with someone you love. I think that might just be the most important lesson of all.
Thereare so many stories to tell you, but where shall we begin? I know, let’s start with the story of the Blue Jackal. Now long ago in a land far away, there was a wild and beautiful jungle full of every kind of creature you could possibly dream of, like huge grey elephants, striped tigers and sapphire peacocks. And in this jungle, there lived a family of jackals with short amber fur and sharp yellow eyes. Uncles and aunts, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters and cousins all played and ate and hunted together. On nights of the full moon, the whole family would howl at the sky in harmony, like this, “AROOOOO!”
One jackal always howled longer and louder than the rest – the smallest of the jackals, Fierce Yowl. He would often wander far away from his family, returning only at night. His favourite sister, Clever Snout, would be waiting for him. “The jungle is your home,” she would say. “You shouldn’t wander so far away from your family.”
But Fierce Yowl just laughed, “You stay at home if you want to, sister,” he would respond playfully, “I have more interesting places to be.”
One day, Fierce Yowl was following the trail of a rabbit, his nose to the ground. He was concentrating so hard on the trail of the rabbit that he did not realise he had wandered all the way out of the jungle. He did not see he was on a road built by people. He did not even notice when he entered the village that his sister had always told him to stay away from. Until he heard a growl . . .
“What are you doing here, little jackal? You are not welcome in our village.”
Fierce Yowl looked up in fright to see a large pack of dogs. He was surrounded! The little jackal looked desperately around him . . . then he saw it – a gap between two of the smaller dogs. Fierce Yowl dashed through, and off down the dusty street.
Faster and faster, Fierce Yowl ran, with the dogs chasing after him, snapping at his heels and barking loudly. Through the village they went, until . . . Fierce Yowl saw a huge bucket of water standing outside a workshop. It was big enough to hide six jackals! He jumped straight in – holding his breath as he ducked under the water.
Slowly, as the barking faded away, he poked his head out to take a deep breath of air, before quickly jumping out of the bucket.
But what the jackal did not know then was that the workshop belonged to an artist and the bucket had been filled not with water, but with indigo dye. As night fell, he crept back to the jungle like a dark blue ghost moving through the leaves in the moonlight.
The tigers were the first to see him. They roared in fright and dashed away, terrified that for once, they were the prey. The elephants did not act much better. He caused them to stampede, and the jungle was loud with thumps and roars and shouts from the animals that night.
“How strange!” thought Fierce Yowl, but he was too thirsty to think very much about it and he trotted off to the lake which was the favourite drinking spot for all the animals.
But as the first rays of dawn broke and he looked back into the water, he was startled to see a bright blue jackal looking back at him. Gone was his amber fur; his golden eyes now gleamed like two suns in an indigo sky. He was magnificent! And as he looked at his reflection, slowly an idea began to form in his head.
As all the other animals returned to the lake to drink water that morning, Fierce Yowl stood high on a cliff above them.
“My dear friends,” said Fierce Yowl grandly, “you have nothing to fear. You see, the gods saw you had no king, so they sent me here to rule this jungle. I will keep you safe if you promise to serve and be loyal to me.”
The tigers, monkeys, elephants, jackals and birds had never seen anything like the blue creature with his golden eyes.
“A king!” they gasped as they all bowed low. The only one who did not was Clever Snout. She just laughed. “Don’t you see? That’s just–”
“Silence!” commanded Fierce Yowl. “Jackals, if you refuse to accept me as your king, you will be banished from this jungle forever!”
Before the jackals could protest, Fierce Yowl ordered the tigers to chase them out of the jungle. His secret was safe – for now . . .
Fierce Yowl wasted no time in giving each of the other animals a job to do. The lions and tigers would get fresh meat for him every day, the leopards were his personal bodyguards, he would climb the elephants’ backs as they would take him from place to place in his jungle.
For a while, everything went very well for Fierce Yowl, who enjoyed the attention and glory of his new life. And if sometimes he wondered about his family, sent away to the edge of the jungle, he quickly pushed the thought away. He was a king now!
But one night, when the moon was full and the jungle so quiet you couldn’t even hear an owl hoot, there was a sound . . . It echoed through the trees to where Fierce Yowl lay sleeping in his royal bed. “AROOOOO!” It was his jackal family all howling at the moon.
Fierce Yowl woke with a start and before he could even think he returned the call, even longer and louder than the rest. “AROOOOO!”
The other animals all heard Fierce Yowl’s loud howl. The leader of the monkeys shouted, “This is not a king from the heavens! This is just a sneaky jackal trying to be clever!”
The furious animals chased Fierce Yowl out of his royal home. Faster and faster, he ran, with the animals chasing after him, snapping at his heels, until he collapsed, exhausted, outside a cave at the edge of the jungle. Raising his head, Fierce Yowl saw a pair of familiar paws . . .
Can you guess who it was? Yes! It was his favourite sister, Clever Snout!
She glared at all the animals chasing her brother. “You silly creatures!” she snapped. “This is all your own fault! If you had simply paid attention, you would have been able to tell a king from a jackal! Now be off with you – this is the jackals’ home and this is our brother, and we will always protect our family.”
Growling in warning, the other jackals stepped forward to form a wall around Fierce Yowl. And the other animals backed away, retreating into the jungle.
I bet Clever Snout had a few words with her brother about loyalty and family, don’t you? No good comes from telling lies. But one thing is for certain, that cheeky jackal learned an important lesson – your family will always protect you and there is no place like home!
