My granddad used to tell a story about a hermit and parrots which is immensely popular in India. I have retold this ancient fable in English under the title ‘Hermit and His Disciples’. To enjoy this fable translated from Sanskrit into English,
Here's an extract:
The following month he asked them to repeat the whole sentence (A trapper may come here, spread a net, strew it with grain, but we won’t fall into the trap.) after him. The parrots successfully started doing that, too, and had to undergo this sort of exercise for the whole of this month. Then, in the third month of their exercise, each one of them was asked to recite the saying to the class. Finally, from the fourth month onwards, the parrots began to chant it all the time.
One day a trapper really came there. But when he listened to what the parrots were chanting, he was disappointed. At first he thought to retrace his way, then later he decided that he would do his job no matter what the result.
He spread the net on the ground, scattered rice grains over it and hid behind a tree, holding the other end of the cord. A few minutes later, one of the parrots swooped down and landed on it. Then another one followed it. Slowly the whole flock of them gathered there. They started eating the grains, clattering, ‘A trapper may come here, spread a net, strew it with grain, but we won’t fall into the trap’. The trapper behind the tree quickly pulled on the rope and all the parrots got trapped.
The trapper became very happy because he had notched up a big gain that day. He put the bag of his net on his back and headed for home, smiling at their mantra which they were still declaiming.
The following month he asked them to repeat the whole sentence (A trapper may come here, spread a net, strew it with grain, but we won’t fall into the trap.) after him. The parrots successfully started doing that, too, and had to undergo this sort of exercise for the whole of this month. Then, in the third month of their exercise, each one of them was asked to recite the saying to the class. Finally, from the fourth month onwards, the parrots began to chant it all the time.
One day a trapper really came there. But when he listened to what the parrots were chanting, he was disappointed. At first he thought to retrace his way, then later he decided that he would do his job no matter what the result.
He spread the net on the ground, scattered rice grains over it and hid behind a tree, holding the other end of the cord. A few minutes later, one of the parrots swooped down and landed on it. Then another one followed it. Slowly the whole flock of them gathered there. They started eating the grains, clattering, ‘A trapper may come here, spread a net, strew it with grain, but we won’t fall into the trap’. The trapper behind the tree quickly pulled on the rope and all the parrots got trapped.
The trapper became very happy because he had notched up a big gain that day. He put the bag of his net on his back and headed for home, smiling at their mantra which they were still declaiming.
Luckily, the hermit was coming in his direction........
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