Story 179 - The Deer and its Friends

AT a certain time there were three years without rain. Because there was no rain, water everywhere was wanting. In the wilderness in the midst of the forest there was water at a single rock-hole. There a Deer drank water.

At the 'Hrne when the Deer, having eaten and eaten food in the jungle, was going, he met with a Crow. The Crow said,

“Friend, you are in health, as though without any want of food or water. For us there is not a drop of water for bathing or drinking. Ane ! Merit will be attained.^[1] Please tell me also the place where you drink water.”

Thereupon he told the Crow the path to the rock-hole in which there is water.

At the time when the two are coming thus and drinking the water, the Woodpecker met them. “Friends, where do you drink water ? Merit will be attained; tell me also,” the Woodpecker said. Afterwards they told the Woodpecker the path.

At the time when the three were drinking the water, a Turtle met them. The Turtle also asked,

“Friend, where do you drink water ? We indeed are going (lit. making) to die. Merit will be attained. Tell us, too, the place where you drink water.”

They showed the path to the Turtle also.

Well then, at the time when the four were drinking the water, a Jackal met them. The Jackal says,

“Friend, where do you drink water ? There is no want of food and water for you, indeed. Ane ! Merit will be attained; tell me also.”

[The animals] having shown the path to the Jackal also, while the five were drinking the water there, a Vaedda having gone hunting also saw the water-hole. He saw that a Deer had drunk water at the water-hole. Having seen it, the Vaedda thought,

“I must catch this Deer.”

He set a deer-hide noose there to catch the Deer. Well then, when the Deer was going [there] to drink water, the Deer was caught in that Vaedda’s deer-hide noose.

The Turtle, and the Crow, and the Woodpecker, and the Jackal, these four friends, having come to drink water, when they looked the Deer had been caught.

Well then, the four having said,

“Ane ! Our friend who showed us the road to drink water to-day has been caught for killing,”

the other three said to the Jackal,

“Ane ! Friend, you indeed are able to bite this fold of deer-hide.”

The Jackal, thinking,

“To-day a good eating has been hung up for me,”

said,

“Ane ! Friend, I am indeed unable to bite the deer-hide fold. My teeth are shaking about.”

Then those three said,

“Ane ! Friend, don’t tell those lies; you can indeed somehow or other bite it.”

Having said,

“Ane ! I cannot,”

the Jackal lay down at the edge of the jungle. In [every] possible way the three told the Jackal. The Jackal did not bite it at all. Having said [to himself],

“I shall obtain the stomach,”

he remained silent.

The Turtle was biting and biting [the cord] as much as he could, during that day night-time. On the following day, as it became light, the Crow said to the Woodpecker,

“Friend, you go, and when the Vaedda is preparing to come, make an evil omen (bada).”

At dawn, the Vaedda having arisen says to the Vaedi woman (his wife),

“Cook a packet of rice, and give me it. I have set a noose. In order to go to look at it.”

At that time the Woodpecker cried out. Then the Vaedda says,

“Bolan, there is a bad omen. Having waited a little time, cook.”^[2]

Afterwards, having waited a little time the woman arose. At that time, also, the Woodpecker cried out. When she was taking the rice also, the Woodpecker cried out, yet the woman having cooked the packet of rice gave it to the Vaedda.

The Vaedda taking the axe and taking the packet of cooked rice, at the time when the Vaedda is going, the Woodpecker having come flying above tells the other .friends,

“Ane ! Friend, now then indeed, we cannot save him. I made evil omens as much as possible; without hearkening to them the Vaedda is coming.”

Afterwards, the three beseeched the Jackal, and told it [to bite the cord]. Yet the Jackal did not bite it. Having said [to himself],

“I shall obtain the stomach,”

without speaking he remained lying down.

Then the Vaedda having come, and seen that the Deer has been caught, hung the packet of cooked rice on a tree, and taking the axe came near the Deer. As he was coming, the Crow tore open the packet of cooked rice. Then when the Vaedda is coming near the packet of cooked rice, the Crow goes away.

When the Vaedda is going back near the Deer, again the Crow tears the packet of cooked rice. The Vaedda, having become angry at it, threw the axe to strike the Crow. The-Crow flew away. The axe having struck the Jackal, the Jackal died. Then the Deer, breaking the deer-hide cord, bounded off. Well then, the friends having joined together went away.

The Vaedda saying and saying,

“Ane ! Was it the Deer that I got, or the packet of cooked rice I got ?”^[3]

went away.

P. B. Madahapola, Ratemahatmaya,
North-western Province.

 

The Deer, the Jackal, and the Crow. (Variant a.)

In a certain country, when a Deer and a Crow were friends while a long time was going, one day the Deer met with a Jackal. The Jackal, having seen the Deer, says,

“I also should be pleased to be friendly with you. Because of it, are you willing or not ?”

he asked.

Then the Deer says,

“I indeed am willing. I don’t know if the Crow which has become my friend is willing or not.”

Then the Jackal asked the Crow. The Crow says,

“I am not willing, but if the Deer is willing, remain,”

he said. After that the \Vhole three were friendly* The Crow’s dwelling was in a tree; the dwelling of the other two was under the tree

One day when the Jackal is going to seek food, having seen a rice field and come back, he says to the Deer,

“Friend, let us two go for food. I have seen a good rice field to-day. You eat the rice there; I will eat crabs there,”

he said.

The Deer says,

“I will not. It is not good to go there; should we go there we shall come into danger,”

he said.

The Jackal, on the following day having gone [theie] and come back, says to the Deer,

“Nothing having been done [to me] there, let us very two go to-morrow.”

This Jackal says thus with the intention that having killed the Deer he may eat the flesh.

The Deer, trusting the word of the Jackal, went. Having gone, when he looked there is a paddy field. Having seen it and eaten the paddy (growing rice) that day, he came back. On the following day, too, the Jackal said,

“Let us go.”

And because the Deer could not break the Jackal’s word, on that day, also, he went.

That day, the man whose field it is, the owner ctf the field, having come, when he looked saw that deer had eaten it; and having come home, and gone back taking a noose which was twisted from hides, he set it at the gap [in the fence] through which the Deer came.

Thereupon, in order to eat the paddy the Jackal and Deer came to the field. While they were coming [through the fence] the Deer was caught in the noose which had been set.

Then the Deer says,

“Friend, to-day having come they will kill me. Because of it bite this noose,”

he said.

Thereupon the Jackal says,

“I cannot. This is Sunday;^[4] how shall I bite hides to-day ?”

Having said this, the Jackal got hid and waited.

The Crow, also, having seen that the Deer does not come fox a lcmg time, the Crow also came to seek the Deer. Having come, when he looked he saw that the Deer had been caught in the noose, and asked,

“Friend, what is [the reason of] it ?”

And the Deer says,

“This indeed is the Jackal’s contrivance. To-day how shall I get free ?”

he asked the Crow.

The Crow says,

“I will tell you a stratagem. At the time when the rice-neld owner is coming. I will peck at your eye [as though you were dead]. I will caw at a [certain] time. At that time spring up and run away,”

he said.

Thereupon the rice-field owner came, taking a cudgel. Having come, when he looked he saw that the Deer, having t>een caught in the noose, is dead. Then he began the folding up of the noose. When the Crow was cawing the Deer sprang up and ran away.

H a.v mg seen the running Deer and thrown the cudgel that was in his nand* [it struck the Jackal, and] at the blow which was struck the Jackal died.

(This is the story as it is found in the Hitopaiesha, with an antelope in place of the deer.)

North-western Province .

 

The Rat and the Turtle that kept the Precepts. (Variant b.)

In a certain country there is a river. At the river there is a Rat; in that river there is a Turtle. Every day when this Turtle rises to the surface this Rat is here.

The Turtle said,.

“Friend, what are you [doing] there ?”

he said.

“I am keeping the Precepts” (of Buddha).

“Is it good for me also to come ?”

the Turtle said.

This Rat said,

“It is very good.”

After that the Turtle came.

At the time when these two are keeping the Precepts a Deer came to the river for drinking water. Having seen these two here,

“What, friends, are you [doing] there ?”

[he said].

“We are keeping the Precepts.”

“Is it good for me to come ?”

“Ane ! It is very good,”

they said. After that, the Deer came.

At the time when these three are keeping the Precepts a Crow came flying. The Crow said,

“What, friends, are you [doing] there ?”

“We three are keeping the Precepts.”

“Would it be good for me to come, too ?”

he said.

“You [Crows] are not trustworthy.”

“It is true, friend, [regarding the others]; nevertheless there is trustworthiness in me,”

he said. Thereupon they said,

“Come.”

The Crow came.

At the time when these four are keeping the Precepts a Jackal came. Having seen these four the Jackal said,

“What, friends, are you [doing] there ?”

“We are keeping the Precepts.”

“Would it be good for me to come, too ?”

he said.

“Your kind are not trustworthy,”

they said.

“Yes, it is true [regarding the others]; nevertheless I am trustworthy,”

he said.

“If so, come,”

they said. Afterwards the Jackal came.

At the time when the five are keeping the Precepts, when the Jackal went for food and went to the Gamarala’s chena, he saw that there is good com there, and he said to the Deer,

“Friend, there is a good food for yoiii in the Gamarala’s chena,”

he said.

The Deer said,

“[For you] to tell me the road let us go together,”

he said. The Jackal and Deer, both, having gone, the Deer ate food and filling his belly returned.

On the following day, when the Jackal was going alone to the Gamarala’s chena the Gamarala was [there].

This Jackal said,

“Doesn’t the corn disappear in this chena ? The Deer, indeed, has eaten it. You can’t find the gap [by which he came]; shall I find and show (lit., give) you it ?”

The Gamarala said “Ha.”

“Here, look; the gap. Having made the noose, and seized and killed it, you must give me meat,”

he said. The Gamarala made the noose.

On the following day, when the Deer went to eat food on the high ground, he was tied in the noose. When the Jackal went he had been tied. The Jackal went near the Gamarala [and told him].

The Crow said,

“Our friend went for food; why has he not come ?”

When he went to look, having seen that he had been tied in the noose, he said to the Rat,

“Friend, that friend of ours went to eat food; having been tied in the noose he is unable to come.”

After that, the Rat having gone cut the noose. He said to this Deer,

“Remain lying down in the grass field,”

he said. (To make it appear to be dead the Crow perched on the body of the Deer.)

When [he saw that] this Crow had perched on the back of the Deer, that Gamarala says to the Jackal,

“To-day indeed he has died.”

When this Gamarala was going near the Deer, the Deer, having said “Hu,” bounded away. Then the Gamarala struck the Jackal [with his axe]. The Jackal says,

“Not being obedient [to the Precepts], an axe-thunderbolt struck me,”

[and died].

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

 

Note:

In The Jataka, No. 16 (vol. i, p. 49), a deer that was snared is described as shamming death^[5] as in the second of these tales, and escaping when the hunter unfastened the noose.

In the Jataka tale No. 216 (vol. ii, p. 106), when an antelope, a woodpecker, and a tortoise (turtle) lived near a lake, a hunter caught the antelope in a leather noose. While the tortoise endeavoured to gnaw through the leather, the woodpecker went off to make evil omens and delay the hunter in the early morning. It did this by uttering a cry, flapping its wings, and striking him in the face as he opened the front door of his hut. He thought “Some bird of evil omen has struck me,” so he turned back and lay down for a short time. By repeating this at the back-door the bird made the man remain at home till sunrise. When at last he approached the intelope the tortoise had gnawed through all but one thong ; the antelope burst this and escaped. The jackal is not introduced into this version, which being illustrated in the early Bharahat reliefs is of earlier date than 250 b.c.

In Le Pantcha-Tantra of the Abbe Dubois, a crow, a- rat, a turtle, and a gazelle formed a friendship together. When the gazelle was caught the rat brought others and gnawed through the nets and saved it. Afterwards when the rat and turtle were likely to be jeized, the gazelle led the hunters away, and its friends escaped. The jackaJ is not mentioned.

In the Hitopadesha a crow, a rat, a turtle, and an antelope were friends; a hunter caught the turtle and tied it to his bow in order to take it home. By the rat’s advice the antelope feigned death, the crow perched on it, and while the hunter went with his knife to the antelope the rat gnawed in two the string that held the turtle, which, at once plunged, into the water; the antelope then ran off. In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. ii,. p. 52, a mouse takes the place of the rat.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Pin sidda-weyi, a common expression of beggars when asking alms.

[2]:

In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 285, it is stated that " an evil omen'presenting itself to people engaged in any undertaking, if not counteracted by delay and other methods, produces misfortune.” One of the other methods was a drinking bout (see the same work, vol. i, p. 331).

[3]:

That is, “I lost the deer in order to save the packet of rice.”

[4]:

Sunday is not a good day for beginning, any new work; of course this has no connection with the idea of the Christian sabbath Wednesday and Saturday are the most unlucky days of the week. Thursday is the-luckiest one for all purposes. (See vol. ii., p. 192.)

[5]:

Partially trained cart-bulls, the little black jumped ones, often pretend to be dead in order to avoid drawing a cart, and I have seen a wounded jackal and crocodile escape after behaving in this manner; I am not aware that deer act thus. (See Tennent’s Nat. Hist., p. 285.)