The Blind Vulture And The Cat

The Blind Vulture And The Cat.

Once upon a time in India in the forests there was a hill which slopped down to the river. There was a hugh Banyan tree which was shelter to many birds. They made their nests on the branches of the tree and lived happily. There was all kind of birds there like crows, cuckoos, sparrows, parrots. They lived in harmony and never had quarrels among them. One day an old vulture came to live in the hollow of the tree. The birds welcomed him and gave him food and shelter as he was old and cannot get food for himself. Seeing the king heartedness of the birds the vulture thought that the birds are so kind to him so he would look after their small ones when they go out for bringing food.

So from that day , the vulture used to look after the young ones when the birds went to gather food and in return they would give him the food too. All were happy with this arrangement. Now birds too were free from the worry of young ones when they went to gather food and leave them in charge of vulture. This way everyone was happy.

One day a cat passed by the tree and heard the chirping of the young birds and she thought of eating them. But when the young ones saw the cat they shouted in loud voice and Vulture got alarmed. He shouted , “who is there?” On hearing his angry voice the cat thought, “ Oh god! This vulture will definitely kill me now. But if i am brave and cunning now i can win his confidence and can eat as many young birds as i can.”

So cat replied to him’ “ Oh great Vulture, it is me cat, i have come to pay my homage to you.”

Vulture said, “Cat go away or i would kill you in one strike.”

Cat replied in a moment, “Sir, before you kill me , please listen to me once. I am sure a learned and wise vulture like you would kill me for no reason. It is not fair on your part to kill me because i happen to be a cat.” The Vulture decided to listen to cat. Cat said, “ Sir, I live on the other side of the river. I want to repent because i have been a sinner all my life. Now i don’t eat meat and take bath in the river daily. I am doing great penance for my sins. On our side of river, all birds praise you for your wisdom and knowledge of religion. This is only way for my repentances that I be your disciple and learns about it from you. The birds must have told lied about me to you. Everyone knows that a guest is another form of God and if you don’t have anything to offer, then at least you can be polite to her.”

Vulture asked, “How can I trust you when you are a carnivorous cat and I have young ones with me here and I am blind?” Cat was too smart for questions like these. She touched the ground with her ear as sign of honesty and said, “Since I read some holy books it became clear to me that killing others is a big sin and i would go to fires of hell if I keep killing innocent young ones. The forest is full of delicious fruits and vegetables, so why should I sin by killing others?” Vulture believed her and let her live with him in the hollow of the tree. Soon she won the confidence of the vulture and she started eating young ones one by one. She was careful as not to eat too many together or let vulture know she is eating them. She would hide bones in the hollow of the tree. Soon the birds got suspicious that their children are missing at much more faster speed than normal. So they started to look for them. One day all got together and got very angry. Cat saw the situation was not in her favour so she quietly ran away. But Birds continue to look for young ones and found bones in the hollow of the tree. Vulture was sleeping in the hollow and didn’t know that they are looking for young ones. The birds got angry and shouted that the Vulture has eaten their young ones. They got so angry that they pecked the vulture to death without even giving him a chance to defend himself or explain things.

Moral of the story: Never trust anyone who you hardly know as a friend.