The Cobra and the Crows

There lived a husband and a wife crow in a dense forest. The dense forest was on the outskirts of a prosperous kingdom.

The birds had built a nest in the branches of the tree and lived there.

Unfortunately, the crows did not know that a cobra also lived in the base of the same tree. The cobra was silent and did not draw any attention to itself, and it merely observed the crow couple.



Once the wife crow laid eggs in the nest and the couple were very happy that they were going to become parents.

The couple went out to hunt for food and that was when disaster struck.

When the couple returned to the nest, they found that their eggs were broken and eaten. The miserable couple looked around and found that the trail led to the base of the tree and realized that there lived a cobra there.

After that, every time the wife crow laid eggs, the cobra would eat them when the couple went to hunt.



Not knowing what to do, the crow couple approached the wise jackal. “You need to help me!” The wife crow told the jackal unhappily. “The two of us cannot fight the cobra. We are not strong enough to kill the cobra. The cobra knows this. It waits for us when we are away and then eats our eggs.”

“I think we should abandon the tree.” The husband crow voiced from the other side.

The jackal was silent and then shook his head. “Moving to another location will not solve your problem. It will merely give you a new set of troubles in the new area.”

“What do we do?” The wife crow wailed. “We cannot let the cobra do this to us all the time.”

The jackal studied the crow couple and then a second later grinned.

A day later, the kingdom near the dense forest was in a big frenzy. Something unthinkable had happened. A crow had stolen jewelry from the palace!

The guards ran out following the flying bird and the crow had a precious necklace in its beak.

The crow for some strange reason seemed to be slow, almost as if it were letting the guards follow it.

After a long run, the guards had followed the crow to a dense tree.

The guards sighed in relief as the crow dropped the necklace at the base of the tree.

Unfortunately, one of the guards spotted a huge cobra hole where the necklace had fallen into.

While taking the necklace out, the cobra was disturbed and hissed angrily.

The guards saw this and immediately killed the cobra.

The next day, the jackal smiled at the crow couple. “You do not need strength to defeat a stronger enemy.”

From the Panchatantra