This is a nice fable from the album of Panchatantra.
Once upon a time, there lived a sparrow with her husband on a banyan
tree. They built a nest and the sparrow laid her eggs in the nest. One
afternoon, a wild elephant came under the tree unable to bear the heat
of the sun. Suddenly in a fit of rage, the elephant broke a branch of
the tree on which the nest was built. Unfortunately, all the eggs of the
sparrow got crushed though the parents were saved. The she-sparrow was
full of grief and began weeping for her eggs.
A woodpecker, a close friend of the sparrow, heard her crying and moved
by her grief asked her, “Why are you crying, my friend?” The
she-sparrow said, “The wicked elephant has destroyed my offspring.
If you are a true friend of mine suggest a way to kill him”. The
woodpecker consoled her and told her that he knew a fly and she would
definitely help them, to kill the elephant.
Both of them together went to seek the help of the fly. On meeting the
fly, the woodpecker said, “This is my dearest friend. A wild
elephant has crushed her eggs. You have to find a way to kill that
elephant. We need your help.” The fly replied, “One of my
friends is a frog. Let us go to him and take his help too”. The
she-sparrow, the woodpecker and the fly went to the frog and narrated
the whole incident.
The frog said, “What can an elephant do before a united crowd like
us? Do what I tell you. Dear Fly, you go to the elephant when the sun is
high in the sky and hum a sweet tune into his ears. When he closes his
eyes in delight, the woodpecker will scoop his eyes out. Like this, he
will become blind. When he will get thirsty, he will look for water. I
will go to a marshy land and begin croaking there. Thinking that there
is water, the elephant will come there. He will sink into the marshy
area and die.”
The next day in the noon, all the three played out the plan and the
elephant was killed, when he drowned into a marshy area after being
blinded by the woodpecker, when he closed his eyes in response to the
music. Thus, with the smartness of all the three animals, the sparrow
took her revenge on the elephant.
Moral: Wit is superior to brute force.
