Episode 4 – Hare-y Tales

Our first story is set in a jungle which had a huge and powerful lion. The lion loved to kill and eat for pleasure. Mostly kill for pleasure. Because that’s what lions do. In folk tales. In actual fact, lionesses are way better at hunting and killing than lions, but most mythology assumes the lions do all the work.

The animals in the jungle all got together after first being absolutely certain that the lion wasn’t around. The elephant trumpeted to call the meeting to order and brought up the first and only item on the agenda. “So”, he said – “let’s address the elephant in the room”. 

“Hello Elephant” said everyone.

That’s not what quite what I meant replied the Elephant.

The fact is we’re all in danger! The lion can easily kill us all mercilessly and maybe not even have the decency to eat us afterwards.

Maybe if we all sprinkled on some garnish, said a thoughtful but silly old monkey. 

That’s not the point, every day we step out we cant even be sure we’ll return home safely.

Why dont we “take out” the lion asked a wild boar. You are bigger and more powerful than him. He said to the elephant.

“I am bigger”, admitted the elephant. “But it wont work. I am an Asian elephant, I just don’t have the programming for aggression”

No one had any other ideas, it seemed. All the animals just stared around at each other.

Until finally a deer spoke up – we could suggest an agreement instead. We could deliver food to the lion every day. And by food I mean us. We could voluntarily to send one of us everyday. Then we can be in charge of something – even if its just to decide how many of us are killed, and maybe we can charge him some sort of a subscription fee too.

If he kills for pleasure will he be happy with that?

Its worth a try said the snake. I heard him complaining the other day about all the chasing and running around.

Alright it is a good idea said the elephant to the deer.
Oh its not mine said the deer, I got the idea from last week’s Stories from India podcast, when some villagers came to a similar agreement with Bakasura. I verified it with my financial advisor who suggested that in these volatile times, it is better to convert your floating rate losses into a fixed rate one.

Interesting said the elephant, it may prompt some listeners to hear last week’s episode, but it doesnt add any value to *us* here, so let’s move on. Turning to all the animals he asked: All in favor?

Aye, said all the animals, but half-heartedly. This isnt quite what they were hoping for, but it was a small improvement.

The eagle was chosen to give the message to the lion, since he could quickly fly out of reach of the lion’s paws if necessary.

The lion heard the proposal. You’re basically telling me I’m going to get my 4 square meals a day delivered to my doorstep everyday?

Uh Uh Uh said the eagle. Not 4 square meals, one meal – that’s all lions eat anyway.

You’ll not go hungry. We may send a different kind of animal everyday, but rest assured we’ll make sure your catered meal is filling. You have to promise us not to kill anyone else.

The lion was happy, oooh, so my meal will be a surprise everyday, I love surprises.
He was happy to go along with the arrangement.

And so it began. Everyday animals drew straws and the one who got the shortest straw went to the lion and was promptly eaten.

This went on for a while. The animals were still miserable but at least they were okay, until the next time the straws were drawn. Finally it was a little rabbit that drew the shortest straw.

This was horrible news! Since a rabbit is hardly enough, the arrangement would have required his entire family to go as a single meal. And his family? His wife and 10 newly born little babies. He was devastated.

And yet, he had no choice. Other animals had sacrificed themselves and their families to the lion. And it would not be fair for him to hold out now.

He needed to gather his family and head to the lion’s den soon. It was almost time and the lion would soon be hungry. But then he decided – his babies and his wife must be protected. He would find a way. He said goodbye to his wife casually without really revealing that he’d drawn the short straw that day.

As he made his way slowly to the lion’s den he glanced around everywhere looking for inspiration. And then he found it. Right in the middle of the forest. A well. Because a perfectly normal placement for a well is miles and miles away from the nearest human settlement.

The rabbit peeked in and saw his own reflection in the water. Eureka! he said I’ve got it!

The lion was getting hungrier but the rabbit did stop and celebrate and It was part of his plan. He took the long way around to the lion’s cave. He was deliberately late, but not late enough that the lion wouldn’t just go around and start kiling everyone in sight.

He finally reached the lion’s den. The lion had very very hungry and he was raging.

He asked the rabbit. You? Is that all they sent? After keeping me hungry for so long! This is a violation of our agreement I’m going to eat you up and then kill everyone in the forest.
Obviously the lion wasn’t thinking long term. If he killed everyone he’d have no one left to eat the next day. But he was thoughtless in his anger.

The Rabbit, while completely frightened of the lion, said in a very meek voice:

“Please sir. I’ll explain. We animals had chosen the a dozen of the plumpest rabbits for your dinner. We were hopping along on our way here, we would have reached much earlier, but then we ran into the other lion“

‘Wait, what?” asked the lion. “There is no other lion. This is my forest.”

“That’s exactly what he said” continued the rabbit. He caught all of us. We begged and pleaded with him to let us go as we were promised to you. He didnt listen, at least when he was eating the other 11 rabbits one by one. Finally, and maybe because he’d had enough rabbit for one night, he let me go. He ordered me to come to you. As a message of sorts.

The lion who was already in a foul mood thanks to his hunger, now roared with outrage. Who was this upstart who dared to enter his forest and intercept his meal service?

He commanded the rabbit to take him to the other lion right away.

And the rabbit took the lion to the other lion’s “castle” as he called it, which was actually just the well. He approached slowly and said look in the castle, you’ll see the lion.
The lion did, and was surprised to see a mean and scary lion staring back at him. Obviously, he’d never seen his own reflection before.

The lion roared, and the other lion roared right back! He could see the other lion roar, and he well echoed the roar.
Incredibly annoyed and angry, the lion pounced on this newcomer – only to discover just water. And that the well was deep so there’s no way he could get out. He screamed and roared all he could, but there was no way out. He drowned. The news spread quickly and everyone was delighted to be rid of the lion. They hailed the rabbit as their hero and lived happily ever after.

Our second story is also set in a forest and also involves a lion and a rabbit.
The rabbit having had a big lunch decided to take a nap under the oak tre because that is a perfectly normal thing for rabbits to do in a forest surrounded by predators of all kinds.

He was sleeping soundly when suddenly something hit him on the head.

Instead  of bothering to look around, he came to the only reasonable conclusion possible: Surely the sky was breaking and pieces were falling on him! Oh no, he ran as fast as he could. Just a panic reaction given he couldnt really do anything else. He did one other thing though. He shouted to everyone around him – the sky is falling. The first few that saw the rabbit had the exact reaction he did – they themselves panicked and ran and spread the message.
Soon, deers, rabbits, foxes, jackals, all kinds of birds, even the elephants were running in all directions. And then they heard a load roar.
It was the lion, their king who had just been disturbed out of his siesta.

What’s the matter he said. All animals spoke at once, “the sky is falling”, we’re all going to be crushed!

Oh what do we do.

Lions arent good at science as a rule(remember our last story?) but even this lion knew how wrong that sounded.

How do you know its falling he said. When everyone started shouting all at once, he roared again until there was silence.

You, Elephant. He said. How do you know the sky was falling? Did you see something?

The elephant replied I heard it from the deer. I didnt actually see it

The deer hadnt seen anything either. He’d heard it from the fox. Who heard it from someone else, and ultimately everything pointed to the rabbit.

Yes! Said the Rabbit. I saw it. The sky is falling on our heads. A piece of the sky hit me on the head.

Alright, said the lion. Show me the place where that happened.

When the rabbit pointed to his forehead, the lion clarified – I meant the geographical location where this event took place.

The rabbit was afraid but couldnt refuse a direct order from his king. The lion carried the rabbit on his back and they swiftly reached the oak tree.
When the rabbit pointed out the exact spot where he’d been sleeping and then seeing the little acorn right next to that spot, the lion surmised what had happened.

Silly rabbit! It wasnt a piece of the sky, it was just an acorn.

Imagine if it had been a meteorite 

Notes

The first story is from the Panchatantra and the second one from the Jataka tales.
The panchatantra is a collection of stories that was more accessible to the common person at a time when the other texts were more exclusive to the elite classes.

The Jataka tales were a series of stories by the Buddha. These were all tiny stories that conveyed simple messages. In a time when elaborate and complexity ruled in pretty much all other texts from that era, Jataka appealed to the masses because of the simple way they conveyed a message. In the second story’s case it was simply that we should be careful whom we follow and basically be ready to challenge assertions when necessary.

This story probably served as the inspiration for the children’s tale Chicken Licken or Chicken Little and many more adaptations into other cultures.

Durga

The character of the week is Durga.

Durga is warrior goddess. She’s an avatar of Shakti, which literally means Energy, and also of Parvati who was the partner of Shiva the destroyer.

Durga was born after my Dad messed up. Yup, if you havent heard the earlier episodes, Brahma the creator is my dad. And he’s also particularly easy to please – worship him and he gives people whatever they want.

So when the buffalo headed demon king called Mahishasura prayed to Brahma to make him immortal, Brahma immediately obliged.

There is almost always a loophole. There was one this time as well. Mahishasura asked that no man or god should be able to defeat him.

Yup, “man”. He didn’t say person and he didn’t exclude goddesses.

When the gods failed to stop Mahishasura’s reign of terror, they couldnt.

So they got together and created Durga – a warrior goddess. She had about either 8 or 10 hands, with a different weapon in each and she was sitting on either a tiger or a lion. 

She was happy to help. She promptly defeated Mahishasura. There’s a festival called the Durga Puja in her honor, and which litterally means worshipping Durga.

Next Week

Next week, we’ll cover the first of the Bikram and Betaal stories. You’ll find out how a Betaal which is a kind of a vampire-like creature can give you life lessons using brain teasers, and you’ll learn why its better to eat fruit soon as you receive it and not pile it away somewhere.

The character next week is a real historical king, not a mythological one, and who stood up to one of the real historical greatest emporers of all time and that one act of defiance earned him everyone’s respect, including the emporer’s.

See you next week!