Panchathanthra is a collection of Sanskrit fables written by the Indian scholar , teacher and writer Vishnu Sharma.
The stories published below have been selected and adapted to suit the young reader.
You can watch the Videos on SK Videos channel .
Vishnu Sharma
Story 1
The Educated Fools
👴 Moral: [Pride goes before a fall: If you are too confident about your abilities something bad could happen. It shows that you are not as good as you think. ]
Once upon a time there lived four Brahmin friends. Three among them were well educated in Vedic scriptures and other fields. However, they lacked intelligence. The fourth friend was uneducated but he excelled in intelligence.
One day, the four friends were engaged in a serious conversation with regard to their future. They said they couldn't make proper use of their educatedness by staying in their home country. So, they decided to serve some other king in the East and make their future better.
Thus, as discussed, the four friends left home early in the morning the very next day. They walked in the direction of the east.
On the way, the first Brahmin friend stopped and expressed his concern over the fourth Brahmin friend who was uneducated.
The second Brahmin friend added, " Yes, we cannot share our hard earned wealth with someone who is uneducated."
The third Brahmin who felt sympathetic for their good old friend said, "We've been friends since our childhood. We've always been together. Therefore, it's my opinion that a part of our wealth should go to him as well."
The four friends resumed the journey. On the way, they had to walk through a dense jungle infested with most ferocious wild animals. The four friends being tired after walking a long distance, decided to rest a while under a huge shady tree.
The friends who observed the surrounding noted some skeletal remains. Upon closer examination, they realized that they were those of a lion died a few years ago.
The educated friends thought that it was an opportunity to show how educated they were by putting together the bones and bringing the dead beast back to life.
Thus they set about working. The first Brahmin friend fixed the bones. The second Brahmin friend fed the skeleton with flesh and blood. Finally, when the third Brahmin friend got ready to blow life into the lion the fourth friend, the uneducated one , who was watching all this drama with horror and surprise , intervened and said , " Stop! Stop! What do you think you are going to do? You are going to bring a ferocious beast back to life. The moment it is alive, it'll definitely kill the four of us. If you love your life, don't do this."
The third friend who was furious to hear this said , "Go away uneducated fool and let me show everyone the power of my knowledge."
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The fourth friend said, "Well, then , wait just one minute until I climb up this tree. "
The fourth friend climbed up the tree in a flash. The third friend blew life into the dead lion. The lion sprang up with a loud roar, killed the three friends and disappeared into the jungle."
The fourth friend watched all this in agony. He was shocked to see the three good friends lying dead under the tree torn into pieces. He walked back home mourning the death of his three friends.
