The Talking Cave

Kharanakara the lion, roamed about in the jungle looking for food.

In the olden days, when Kharanakara was younger, he could chase down any animal of his choice. Food was never a problem. But now, Kharanakara realized unhappily that catching animals was getting more and more difficult.

As the old lion was walking through the forest he came across a cave. That was when a sudden thought struck him. Hunting animals was difficult in this age. What if Kharanakara waited for the animal to come to it.

Thinking thus, Kharanakara looked inside the cave and saw that the cave was huge. He was sure that such a cave would never be unused. There had to be some animal which lived here and the animal would come back home after the day in the forest.

Grinning to himself the lion hid inside the cave. When the animal came back, the lion intended to attack the animal and finish it off for his meal.

Kharankara was perfectly right in his analysis. The cave indeed belonged to a jackal by name Dadhiputcha.

In the evening, Dadhiputcha finished with his hunting and he was coming back to his cave. Dadhiputcha was a naturally observant animal. He found it curious to see a new set of footprints outside his cave. He stopped for a few seconds and then froze in horror.

The footprints belonged to a lion.

Dadhiputcha fervently studied the ground once more. All the footprints led inside the cave, but none came outside.

Dadhiputcha's first instinct was to run. He almost bolted when a voice of reason slowed him down. He was in a jungle. It was not wise to go out in the forests at this time, especially when all the other predators were busy. The cave is the safest place for him, if it was empty.

Dadhiputcha was wondering what to do. He just could not walk inside the cave and see if the lion was still there.

The jackal suddenly grinned.

“CAVE?” The jackal shouted. “Hello, it is me – Dadhiputcha. I am back after hunting. Is everything all right?”

Inside the cave, Kharanakara wondered whether the jackal outside was mad. What did the jackal expect? That the cave was going to talk back?

Still confused, the lion listened to what the jackal had to say. Kharanakara heard the puzzled voice of the jackal. “Cave, this was our agreement. That I greet you when I come back. Is something wrong? Is that the reason you are not talking now?” The jackal asked

Kharanakara was cursing his fate. Of all the things he had to go and enter the one cave which talked back. Probably the cave would not talk back if there was a strange animal inside.

Then Kharanakhara realized that he had only one opportunity right now. He had to impersonate the cave.

“WELCOME JACKAL! All is fine,” the lion growled in a low voice.

Dadhipitcha breathed a sigh of relief as he slunk away from there.

He realized that a person who could anticipate trouble and deal with it appropriately was the one person who would never be unhappy in his life.

-From the Panchatantra