Once
a crow, a mouse, a turtle and a deer became very good friends. They
used to happily spend time in each other’s company. One day, the deer
had not come when the other three had gathered at the lakeside for
their daily discourse. They thought, “ Poor deer has not come so far.
Is it possible that a lion or a hunter has killed him? Or, is it
possible that he has fallen into a pit?” Well-wishers naturally
suspect the worst when their near and dear ones are not seen for a
while. The crow flew to
see what happened to deer. He saw the deer trapped in a hunter’s net
near a small pond. The crow said, “ Friend, don’t lose courage when we
are here.” He rushed back to bring the mouse to the site so that
he would bite off the strings of the hunter’s net.
When
the deer saw his friends rushing to his aid, he realised how necessary
it was to collect good friends and how nobody could overcome troubles
without the help of good friends. Meanwhile the turtle also reached
there in search of his friends.
Soon
the hunter also came there. The mouse did a fast job of biting off the
strings of the net and the deer rushed into the thick forest. The
mouse too disappeared into the nearest hole. But the poor turtle was
slowly plodding its way to safety. But the hunter saw him and bound
him to his bow and slung it across his shoulder and began going home.
The
crow suggested a trick to rescue the turtle. He asked the deer to go
to a small lake on the hunter’s way taking him home. He should pretend
he is dead. And he(the crow) will sit on his head and pretend pecking
his eyes. Seeing the motionless deer, the hunter will then rest the
turtle on the ground and reach for the deer. The mouse should at once
reach the turtle and bite off the strings binding him to the
bow.
“All
right, we will do as you say,” said the mouse and the deer. Meanwhile,
the hunter, seeing the motionless deer, thought it was dead. Leaving
the turtle on the ground, he came to the deer. The deer at once ran
away and the crow flew away. At the other end, the mouse bit off the
strings binding the turtle to the bow. The turtle entered water and
the mouse ran to his hole.
Disappointed,
the hunter returned to where he had rested the turtle. When he found
that the turtle had escaped, he cried bitterly and went
home.
After making sure that they were far away from the hunter’s reach, the
four friends gathered and celebrated their reunion.
