Kalila and Dimna: “The Hunter and the Gazelle”
It is told that one day a hunter went to the forest with his bow and hunting tools. He hit a gazelle with his bow, took it, and returned to his home. On his way back, a wild boar blocked his path. When the hunter saw it, he shot an arrow at it. The arrow went far away. The boar attacked the hunter with his strong tusks and struck him with a powerful blow that knocked the bow from his hand. Both fell to the ground dead.
A wolf passed by them, and when he saw them, he said to himself: “This is an abundant meal. There’s a man, a boar, and a gazelle. I’ll take them to eat tomorrow. As for today, I’ll suffice with eating this bow; it’s enough for my day.” During his attempt to eat the bow, the string broke, and one end of the bow flew toward the fox, hitting his throat. The fox also died. This story is a lesson and example of bad punishment when a person accumulates and hoards for the future.
The Monkeys and the Bird
There was a group of monkeys living inside a mountain. At night, the weather was cold, with heavy rain and very strong winds. They wanted to light a fire to warm themselves. When they saw a firefly glowing very brightly in the darkness, they thought it might be a fire spark. They hurried to gather firewood in large quantities and threw the wood on the firefly, blowing on it very strongly with their mouths, believing it would catch fire and become a source of warmth on this very cold night.
Then a bird came and stood on a tree in a place near them. He saw what the monkeys were doing and looked at them, telling them that what they were blowing on wasn’t fire and that they were exhausting themselves in vain. The monkeys didn’t believe the bird’s words. The bird decided to come down from the tree to be close to them and convince them to stop what they were doing.
At that time, the bird saw a man and knew what he wanted to tell the monkeys. The man advised him, saying: “You cannot simply correct a hard thing, and it won’t be cut by swords.” The bird didn’t take the man’s words seriously and went to the monkeys to tell them that the insect wasn’t a fire spark. One of the monkeys grabbed the bird and beat him until he died. This story expresses the end of a person who doesn’t accept others’ advice and ignores it.
The Crow and the Snake
There was a crow living in a nest above a tree in the middle of a mountain. In the tree, there was a snake’s hole. Whenever the crow laid eggs, the snake would come and eat them. The crow was very sad about what the snake did, so he went to talk about the matter to a friend and asked him to advise him and give him counsel on something he wanted to do.
His friend said to him: “What do you want to do?” The crow answered: “I’ve decided to wait for the snake tonight until he falls asleep, then peck out his eyes so he’ll stay away from me and I’ll rest from his actions.” His friend said to him: “This trick won’t be useful and won’t keep the snake away from you. It will expose you to danger, and you’ll end up like the bird who tried to kill the crab and died instead of it.”
His friend said: “May I suggest something to you? If you can do it, you’ll get rid of the snake’s troubles without exposing yourself to danger.” The crow said: “What is your idea?” He said: “Go fly far away and steal a precious piece of jewelry from one of the women, then come back, but be careful that all eyes see you until you reach the snake’s hole and put the jewelry in the hole. People will follow you to take the jewelry and then kill the snake. This way, you’ll get rid of the snake without risking yourself and maintain your safety.”
The Louse and the Flea
One time, it’s said that on the bed of a rich man, there had been a louse for a long time. When the man came in the evening and sat on his bed, the louse would become active and suck enough blood from him while he slept without feeling it until she was full. One night, a flea came to her to spend some time with her. The louse hosted him and said to him: “Stay with me tonight. I have plenty of delicious blood, and there’s a comfortable bed for us to sleep on.” So the flea stayed with her, and they spent the night together until the man came to his bed. The flea attacked him and bit him very hard, waking the man from his sleep in fear. The man got up from the bed and ordered the servants to clean the bed. They saw only the louse, so they killed her with their fingernails, while the flea fled far away.
Haste Brings Regret
One day, the philosopher told a story: It is said that a woman gave birth to a beautiful boy, and his father was very happy with him. After a few days, the time for circumcision came. The woman said to her husband: “Take the child while I go bathe and return.” She went to the bathroom with the child, and they were sitting in front of the house door. She didn’t stay long before the king’s messenger came, asking the husband to go with him to the king. The husband didn’t find anyone to leave the child with except a weasel (a small animal like cats, which he had raised since it was small). He left the child with it, closed the door on both of them, and went to the king.
After a short time, a black snake came out from among the house’s stones and was about to kill the child. But the weasel jumped on it, killed it, and ate it until its whole mouth was red with blood. When the man returned, he found the weasel in front of him, standing as if he had performed a heroic act. When the husband saw him covered in blood, he lost his mind without thinking, believing he had killed his son and eaten him. He started beating the weasel with his heavy cane on his head until death. When things calmed down, he heard his small son’s voice, alive and well, beside the head of the snake that the weasel had eaten.
When the man understood the reality of the matter and how because of his haste he had killed his faithful animal, he began to cry and scream, saying: “I wish I hadn’t been blessed with this child, so I wouldn’t have betrayed my faithful animal like this.”
The Three Fish
One day, in a body of water, there were three fish. Each fish had a different appearance from its companion. The first fish was distinguished by its cheerful colors, and it took pride in this and didn’t bring food for itself. The second fish had superior mental abilities but was very lazy, thinking it knew everything and thus became too lazy to strive. The third was an active fish, wiser than her companions, striving to work and training herself to handle difficult situations.
One day, these fish saw a fisherman near the pond fishing. The hardworking fish hurried to warn her companions, telling them they must escape. Despite this, none of them listened to her. Those two fish said they were capable of taking the bait without the fisherman catching them. Indeed, the active fish escaped. When the fisherman threw his fishing line, the beautiful fish went to eat the bait without the fisherman feeling her, but she couldn’t succeed, and the fisherman moved his line skillfully and caught this fish.
When the fisherman threw his line again, the smart fish said she could eat the bait and escape through her intelligence. But when she approached the bait, the fisherman was able to catch her. However, she struggled until she escaped from his hand, but then jumped away when her line broke.