moral story from panchtantra

2. A long time ago, there was a monkey who lived
in a rose-apple tree by the side of a river. He
lived alone, but was very happy.
One day, a crocodile came out of the river. He
swam up to the tree and told the monkey that he
had travelled a long distance and was in search
of food as he was very hungry. The kind
monkey offered him a few rose apples. The
crocodile thanked him and asked him if he
could visit the monkey again.
“You are always welcome,” said the monkey.
$$

3. After that, the crocodile started visiting the monkey
every day. They would share rose-apples and talk
about everything they knew. The crocodile told the
monkey that he had a wife and that they lived on
the other side of the river. So the generous monkey
plucked many rose-apples and gave them to the
crocodile for his wife.
$$

4. The crocodile’s wife loved the rose-apples,
but she grew jealous of her husband
spending so much time away from her, in
the company of his new friend. She
pretended as if she did not believe that
her husband, a crocodile, could be friends
with a monkey. The crocodile convinced
her of his friendship with the monkey.
$$

5. The crocodile’s wife thought to herself, “If the
monkey eats only these sweet rose-apples, his flesh
must be sweet too. He would be a delicious
dinner.”
$$

6. So she asked her husband to invite his friend
home so that she could meet him. But the
crocodile was not happy about inviting his
friend home. So the wife thought of a plan. She
pretended to be very ill and told
the crocodile that the doctor had said that she
could get well only if she ate a monkey’s heart.
If her husband wanted to save her life, he must
bring her his friend’s heart.
$$

7. The crocodile was stupid enough to
believe his wife. But the thought of
killing his friend made him very
unhappy. He did not want to harm
his friend. At the same time, he did
not want his wife to die.
$$

8. So the crocodile went to the rose apple tree
and invited the monkey home to meet his
wife. The monkey was very happy and
readily agreed. The crocodile told the
monkey that he could ride across the river to
the other bank on his back. On reaching the
middle of the river, the crocodile began to
sink. The frightened monkey asked him why
he was doing so.
$$

9. “I want to kill you.” said
the crocodile. “My wife is
ill and she can recover only
if she eats a monkey’s
heart.”
$$

10. The monkey was shocked and started
thinking fast. He told the crocodile that he
would gladly give up his heart to save
the life of the crocodile’s wife, but he had
left his heart behind in his tree. He
requested the crocodile to turn back quickly
so he could fetch his heart.
$$

11. The stupid crocodile became happy when he
heard that the monkey was kind enough to
offer his heart without any resistance. He
couldn’t believe that the monkey was willing
to offer his heart without any resistance. The
thought of not killing his friend while
proving his love towards his wife made him
happy.
$$

12. The crocodile turned back and swam as fast as he could
to the tree.
When they reached, the monkey climbed up the tree to
safety. He looked down at the crocodile and said, “Now
you can go back to your wicked wife and tell her that
her husband is the biggest fool in this world. Your
foolishness has no parallel. You were ready to take my
life because of an unjust demand from your wife. Then
you were stupid enough to believe me and brought me
back to the tree.”
$$

13. Moral: A wise enemy is better than a foolish friend.
$$