Here is one more interesting story from the
Panchatantra collection. Once upon a time, there lived a washer man in a
village. He possessed a thin donkey by the name of Udhata. The donkey
used to work for the washer man and carry loads of clothes to the river
bank by the day. The donkey was not satisfied with the food that was
provided by the washer man. In the nights, he usually wandered in the
fields nearby and ate the crops stealthily.
One night, he met a jackal and made friends with him. Both of them went
out in search of food. They found a field full of cucumbers and had them
to their full. They were happy to found a nice place for their food and
decided that they would come daily to eat cucumbers. Now daily, they
came to the field to have cucumbers. Soon, the donkey started looking
healthy and fat.
Once, after a tasty meal of cucumbers, the donkey was extremely happy.
He was so happy that he got an intense desire to sing a song. He told
the jackal that he was overwhelmed and wanted to express his happiness
in a melodious song. The jackal immediately replied, "Don't be a
fool. If you sing, the guards sleeping in and around this field will
wake up and beat us black and blue with sticks”.
The donkey insisted on singing. The jackal again warned him not to do
any foolish act. The donkey said, “You are a dull fellow. Singing
makes one happy and healthy. No matter what comes, I'll definitely sing
a song." The jackal told him that his voice was not sweet. The
donkey thought that jackal was jealous of him. The jackal once again
warned him that if he would sing, the guards would come and reward him
in the way, might be that he would not like.
But the donkey could not stop himself from singing. Seeing the donkey
singing, jackal said to the donkey, "Friend, wait a minute. First,
let me jump over to the other side of the fence for my safety." The
jackal decided to wait outside the garden. On hearing a donkey braying
in the field, the guard woke up from his sleep. He picked up his stick
lying by his side and rushed out to beat him. The donkey was braying
happily, unknown about the danger.
The angry guard found the donkey and beat him so mercilessly that the
donkey was physically incapacitated temporarily. Somehow, the donkey
managed to drag himself out of the field to the waiting jackal. The
jackal looked at the donkey and said in a sympathetic tone, “I am
sorry to see you in this pathetic condition. I had already warned you,
but you didn't listen to my advice." The donkey realized his
mistake and felt sorry for not listening to the good advice of jackal.
Moral: Think before you act.
