Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 484

DIMINUTIVE AIDS TO STRENGTH
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friend than it explained the misfortunes that had
befallen it, as well as the troubles with which it was still
threatened, and entreated the rat to help it somehow or
other out of its prison.
The service which thou standest in need of, my lord
elephant,' answered the rat, presents no difficulties to me
be, therefore, of good courage, and I promise to effect thy
little
'
'
;
deliverance very shortly.'
The chief of the rats immediately assembled several
millions of its subjects, and led them to the pit where their
They set to work at once to burrow
liberator was buried.
all round, throwing the earth into the pit, which gradually
rilled little by little until the elephant was able to reach
the surface and shake itself free from all danger.
At the close of this fable the crab thus addressed the
If a rat was able to render such a signal service
Brahmin
to an elephant, is it not possible that an opportunity might
occur when I might be in a position to oblige thee and to
testify my gratitude to thee ?
The Brahmin Kala-Sarma, delighted at finding so much
intelligence in such an insignificant creature, no longer
hesitated to take the crab with him, and putting it in his
One day, while
travelling bag, proceeded on his journey.
traversing a dense forest at midday, when the sun was
hottest, he halted to rest beneath the shade of a thick tree,
where he soon fell asleep and this is what happened
while he was buried in deep slumber
'
:
'
;
:
The Crow,
the Serpent, the
Brahmin, and
the Crab.
Near the tree under which the Brahmin Kala-Sarma was
enjoying his peaceful slumber, a huge snake had taken up
its abode in a white-ant heap, and in the branches of the
same tree a crow had built its nest. Now the crow and the
serpent had, in the capacity of neighbours, contracted a close
alliance.
When any wearied traveller happened to rest under
the shade of the tree, the crow by a certain cry gave notice
immediately to its friend the snake, and the latter, forth-
with emerging from its retreat, quietly approached the
traveller and bit him, causing instantaneous death. There-
upon the crow would call its fellow-crows together, and
the whole of them would fall upon the corpse and devour it.