The Monkey And The Log

Sanskrit:

अव्यापारेषु व्यापारं यो नरः कर्त्तुमिच्छति |
स एव निधनं याति कीलोत्पाटीव वानरः ॥

Hindi:

दूसरे के काम में हस्तक्षेप करना मूर्खता है|

English:

It is folly to interfere with others’ work.

On the outskirts of a town a merchant had started building a temple beneath the trees. Every day the carpenters and the workmen used to go into the town for their midday meals.

One particular day, a troop of wandering monkeys arrived on the scene.

One of the carpenters, who was in the middle of sawing a log, put a wedge in it, to prevent the log from closing up, and then went off.

The monkey started playing on the tops of the trees and the high structures, without any care.

One poor monkey, not destined to live long, sat down on the half split log, caught hold of the wedge with his hands and started pulling it out.

And Lo! The wedge came out all of a sudden and the log closed in. He was instantly killed.

“And so,” continued Karatak “that’s why I said, that you should never meddle in other people’s business. And our business is to eat whatever has been left by the lion.”

“What!” retorted Damanak. “You think that our only concern is to find food? I don’t agree with you, for it is said that it is despicable crows that live off whatever is available for eating.”

“Anyway,” said Karatak, “now that we are no longer in the service to the king, why should we bother.”

“No!” retaliated Damanak. “Don’t talk like that: it is said that a man who is not minister, becomes one who he serves the king well, but even a minister can be removed from his post, if he fails to serve him well, the servant who pays attention to what pleases and displeased his lord, can never get the upper hand over a wicked master. And how can a wise man fail to handle a king, when he sees that snakes, tigers, elephants and lions can be brought under control, one way or another !”

“So, what do you propose to do?” enquired Karatak.

“Today our master and his court are scared out of their wits,” replied Damanak. “I shall take it upon myself to find out the cause of their fear. Then I shall use one of the six Diplomatic Method, which are: “To make peace or war, to attack or to entrench, to take protection under a powerfully, or provoke a quarrel between one’s opponents.”

“How do you know that our master is scared out of his wits?” — asked Karatak.

“You don’t to know anything.” replied Damanak. “Manu had said: ‘That the thoughts of others can be ascertained by their faces, their gestures, their speech, and the twitching of their eyes.’ And so through the power of my intelligence, I shall free the terrified Pingalak from his fear and, at the same time get back my position as minister.”

“But you don’t know what service means,” told karatak. “How then will you win him over?”

“Well,” said Damanak, “I have listened to the fables told by Mahatmas and since then I have remembered the substance of them and have stored them in my mind.”

Saying this Damanak bowed, took leave of Karatak and then went straight to the king. As soon as Pingalak saw Damanak coming, he told to his guard, “Let Damanak, the son of my former minister, come in without any hindrance.”

When Damanak arrived, Pingalak spoke kindly to him.

— “Are you happy?” he asked. “Why have you come to see me after such a long time?”

— “Your Majesty!” replied Damanak. “Although my master has no particular work for me, yet I must still offer my services when the occasion demands. The king needs all three types of people: High, middle and low. We were always with you as your servants, even followed you in bad times, yet our jobs were taken away from us. That was unjust on your part and I still does not blame you.”

Hearing this the lion Pingalak said “It makes no difference weather your are high or low, you are the son of my former minister, so if you have anything to say, say it without fear.”

“My Lord!” said Damanak. “indeed I have something to say.”

— “Well then,” said Pingalak, “tell me.”

— “But, I want to tell you in confidence.” said Danmanak.

The tigers, the wolves and the others understood the sign that Pingalak made in response to Damanak’s request and went away.

Then Damanak said to the king, “You went to the river to drink water but you returned abruptly. Why was that?”

“Oh, for no particular reason,” — answered Pingalak with a smile.

“If it’s something that you don’t want to talk about, said Damanak. There are some things that you can tell to wives, some to sons, some to family, but you can’t tell everything to everybody.”

On this Pingalak thought to himself, “The fellow seems deserving enough. I’ll take him into my confidence.”

And then Pingalak asked Damanak, “Can you hear that terrifying noise in the distance?”

“Yes,” replied Damanak, “I can, what of it?”

“My friend,” said Pingalak, “I want to get away from this jungle.”

“Why so?” asked Damanak.

“Because,” replied Pingalak, “some monstrous animal has come here and it is he who makes this loud noise. Probably he is as strong as his loud voice.”

“You mean that it’s just a noise you are afraid of!” exclaimed Damanak. “That’s not right. For generation this jungle belongs to you. It would be wrong for you to leave it suddenly. Beside, there are all kind of noises made by drums, conches, vocal instruments and so on, so you should not afraid of a mere noise, for. On this I want to tell you that when the hungry jackal conquered his fear of a noise. He found his food.”

“How was that?” enquired Pingalak. Then Damanak told this story. [Continue to "The Jackal And The Drum".]