It is told that the wise Shuparnasiti sat with his disciple Chakradara and began recounting his usual stories. The topic of today’s story was about accepting advice and taking action when angry. He told him the story of the bird with two heads, saying:
There was a large bird called Bharunda living on the shores of a lake. It had two heads and one body. Once, when the bird was wandering on the shores of that lake, it found some delicious fruit. One of its heads turned and said: Oh, how lucky I am. This must be a gift from the heavens to me.
The other head heard his words and said to him: Let me eat from that fruit too. The first head laughed, saying: Each of us has the same stomach, so there’s no difference between what I eat and what you eat. I’ll eat from it and give some to our wife. She must be very happy with it. The second head felt disappointed by the first head’s position toward him.
He wanted to respond to him for what he did, so he seized the opportunity once when he found some poisonous fruit. He said to the first head: I will eat from that poisonous fruit and take revenge for your previous insult and lack of respect.
The first head said: If you eat from that fruit, you’ll also take revenge on yourself because both of us will die, and that’s because we have the same body. But with the revolution of anger, the second head ignored the first head’s warning and ate the poisonous fruit, so both of them died.
After listening to the story, Chakradara said: Your words are correct, O wise one. Counsel and taking advice always saves a person, as happened with one of the ancient Brahmins when he responded to his mother’s advice.
The wise Shuparnasiti, who never missed an opportunity for learning and knowledge, said: How was this, Chakradara? Tell me his story. Chakradara said: There was a Brahmin, a small boy from the Brahmins, living in a city in India with his elderly mother. One day, Brahmana was planning to travel to another village.
His mother advised him to take someone with him and not travel alone. But the boy assured her that the road to the village was safe and asked her not to fear. The boy indeed resolved to go alone. But the mother immediately moved toward the well in the backyard.
She took out a sea crab and asked her son to take the crab with him during his journey and keep it safe. The boy yielded to his mother’s wish and placed the crab in a small box he carried with him on his journey.
The weather was very hot, so Brahmana stopped and took shelter under a large tree on the road for a while. While he was lying under it, a snake came out of the tree’s hollow and began circling Brahmana and his small box. When the snake approached the crab, it attacked and cut off its head.
The boy woke up and found the dead snake beside him, and the crab alive outside the box. He realized what had happened and remembered his mother’s advice to him. He rejoiced greatly because he listened to her advice, which saved his life. Here Chakradara ended his story, saying that advice is more precious than gold.