Issue Date: November 1986

The tree fell over and its branches were broken.  A pair of little parrots who had built their nest in this tree saw to their horror when they came home that their nest lay on the ground and all the eggs were broken.  The mother exclaimed in verse:

Oh! Life seems purposeless to me
If I can’t kill my enemy!
The elephant destroyed our nest
Our eggs with which we were well blessed!

Upon learning of their friends’ loss, the crow, the woodpecker, the fly, and the duck arrived to offer their condolences.  The crow spoke, “Do not mourn the dead like Indra, but take revenge.”  His friend asked him to tell them the story of Indra’s mourning, and the crow commenced:

“Indra once had a golden parrot as a pet.  One day as Indra was sitting on his throne with his darling parrot, Yama, the god of death, came in and frightened the parrot, who hid under Indra’s throne.  But it was no use.  The parrot had to die; it was his time.  So Yama took his life.  Indra questioned Yama, asking, ‘Why take my pet parrot?  I want him alive!’  Yama replied, ‘I am sorry, but I only execute the orders of Kala, the god of time.’ Together they went to see Kala, who listened attentively to Indra’s complaint and answered, ‘Regretfully I cannot help you.  I only follow what Citragupta tells me.’  So they went to see Citragupta, who said, ‘I only keep the records.  Go and ask Bhatara Iswara.  He is the one who commands.’”

With death the soul deserts the body,
That is our lot.
It is like water, which cannot be held
By a broken pot.

“That is very true,” said the frog.  “No life will ever return to the broken eggs, so do not mourn; but let us think of a plan to overcome the elephant, just as the beach tortoises overcame the great bird Garuda.”

“How was that?” asked the woodpecker, and the frog began his fable.

Garuda wanted to eat a tortoise every year, but one of the tortoises had a plan, which he explained to his friends. 


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Copyright 2001 THE WORLD AND I Magazine. All rights reserved.
The World & I is published monthly by News World Communications, Inc.

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