The Crane and the Makara India, The Kathá Sarit Ságara

 

The Crane and the Makara

India, The Kathá Sarit Ságara

Of old time there dwelt a crane in a certain tank rich in fish; and the fish in terror used to flee out of his sight.

Then the crane, not being able to catch the fish, told them a lying tale: "There has come here a man with a net who kills fish. He will soon catch you with a net and kill you. So act on my advice, if you repose any confidence in me. There is in a lonely place a translucent lake, it is unknown to the fishermen of these parts; I will take you there one by one, and drop you into it, that you may live there."

When those foolish fish heard that, they said in their fear: "Do so, we all repose confidence in you."

Then the treacherous crane took the fish away one by one, and, putting them down on a rock, devoured in this way many of them.

Then a certain makara dwelling in that lake, seeing him carrying off fish, said: "Whither are you taking the fish?"

Then that crane said to him exactly what he had said to the fish.

The makara, being terrified, said: "Take me there too."

The crane's intellect was blinded with the smell of his flesh, so he took him up, and soaring aloft carried him towards the slab of rock. But when the makara got near the rock, he saw the fragments of the bones of the fish that the crane had eaten, and he perceived that the crane was in the habit of devouring those who reposed confidence in him. So no sooner was the sagacious makara put down on the rock, than with complete presence of mind he cut off the head of the crane. And he returned and told the occurrence, exactly as it happened, to the other fish, and they were delighted, and hailed him as their deliverer from death.