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In a town, there lived a king, Devashakti. He had a son who grew leaner and learner everyday, for he had a snake in his stomach. In spite of several treatments by well-known physicians, he was not cured.
Thoroughly fed up with his life, the prince went to another town, where he lived in a temple and maintained himself by begging alms.
The king of that country had two young daughters. Everyday, at sunrise, they would approach their father and bow at his feet.
One would say, ‘My lord, with your blessings, all joys are bestowed upon us.’ The other would say, ‘Your Majesty, one only gets the fruits of one’s actions.’
One day, the king got angry with his second daughter and said to his ministers, ‘Give this girl of mine away in marriage to any stranger you come across, so that she gets the fruits of her actions.’
‘All right, Your Majesty,’ - replied the ministers.
In their search for a stranger, the ministers came across this prince, who was living in the temple, and they married off the princess to him.
The princess was very happy with the marriage and looked upon her husband as God.
Shortly after their marriage, the prince and princess set out for another part of the country.
On the way, the princess left her husband to rest under a tree and went into the nearby town to buy provisions. After making the necessary purchases, she returned to find the prince fast asleep.
Suddenly, she saw a snake emerging from the prince’s mouth and yet another from an ant hill near by. Now both these snakes had come out for fresh air.
When they saw each other, they got very annoyed. ‘You wicked creature!’ said the ant-hill snake to the other. ‘Why are you torturing this handsome prince? If he would only drink a gruel, made of Cummins seed and mustard, you would surely be dead!’
‘Well,’ replied the other, ‘you too, could be destroyed, if someone poured hot water or hot oil on the ant-hill. Then he could get the two pots of gold that you are guarding.’ Standing behind a tree, princess, heard their argument and came to know their secrets.
She acted accordingly. As a result, her husband recovered his health and, at the same time, they had two pots of gold to themselves.
Moral of The Story “And so,” continued Prakarakarn, “that’s why I said, ‘Those who refuse to co-operate, shall be destroyed like the two snakes’.”
When Arimaradan, the owl king, had heard Prakarakarn’s advice, he finally agreed that the crow should not be killed.
Raktaksh said to the other ministers with a smile, ‘‘Through your lack of understanding, some disaster is bound to befall I repeat once again, the crow must be killed!”
But in spite of so much opposition from Raktaksh, the owls did not listen and took the crow to their cave. On the way, the crow suddenly cried out, “Oh, what is the use of this miserable life? I shall end it by entering the fire. Please don’t stop me!”
“Why do you intend entering fire?” - asked Raktaksh. “Well,” replied Sthirajeevi, ‘‘I have been reduced to this plight by Meghavaran, because of you. Now, I should like to be reborn an owl, so that I can have my revenge.”
Raktaksh said to the crow, “You speak very charmingly but you are crooked! Even if you were reborn an owl, you would still be a crow at heart. As the story goes, Turning down the offers of marriage Made by the Sun God, the Cloud, the Lord of the Wind and the mountain. A female mouse chose a husband of her kind.
How was that? - asked others. And Raktaksha told this story. THE FEMALE MOUSE