Crow wisdom

Once a crow couple lived on a giant old tree which grew besides a royal lake. The crow couple used to watch what the king was doing as he comes to take a bath from the lake. The crow couple never saw the king coming for a bath alone.

He used to come with a selected few like the chief minister, the wise man of the palace and the court jester. Sometimes he would come with the wise man and others would follow soon.

The crow couple knew how much time he takes to dip in the crystal clear waters of the lake. In the first instance, he would come near the lake and look around the thicket. He seems to delight over the greenery. He would watch the birds and squirrels jumping from branch to branch, making certain pleasing sounds. He also knew the tree where the crow couple lived. He would never disturb them.

The birds and squirrels too knew his behaviour, and watched the king’s admiration of the nature. But the king never knew that there was a black snake that used to disturb the lives of some birds.

The crow couple knew very well what the cruel black snake was up to. The black snake was the arch enemy of the crow couple. She crow was sad to see that two of her eggs laid in the nest were swallowed by the black snake.

She had only seen that the black snake was crawling down to his tree hole. Then she reported this matter to her husband the crow.

“I know what’s to be done,” said the crow in a contemplative tone.

“You need not get afraid this time when you lay your eggs.”

So the she crow was once again pregnant. She laid two more eggs and wanted to protect them from the enemy, the black snake. Meanwhile, the crow husband was watching the king who used to come for his regular bath.

The crow saw the king removing his golden necklace and placing it on his royal clothes. As the king and his party dipped into the lake the crow slowly came towards where the gold necklace was placed.

The crow swooped down from where he was perched. He took the necklace by his beak and flew away to the tree hole where the black snake lived. The crow slowly dropped the necklace from the opening of the tree hole. All of a sudden the black snake was disturbed from his slumber. The black snake hissed. The crow flew away and perched on a branch from where he could see the king and his party of royal courtiers.

Then the crow saw that the king was coming out of the lake. The king was surprised to see that his necklace had disappeared. He looked around but could not find it. Has someone stolen it? He didn’t want to create any disharmony. But he called the wise man and told him what he felt.

“I am pretty certain that I kept my gold necklace here. Now it’s gone. How can that happen? I simply can’t understand. Right at that moment the crow made a strange sound, which he had never done so far.

“That crow seems to say something,” said the wise man. Then once again the crow made an indication that a necklace is lying in the hole in the trunk of the tree. The wise man knew for certain that the crew, though regarded as an ugly gruesome bird, is nevertheless wise in certain matters.

The wise man and the king listened to what the crow was saying. The crow once again made an indication that the necklace is lying in the tree hole, where the black snake lives. But it was surely a dangerous action to be taken.

“See whether you see my necklace in that hole,” ordered the king to his courtiers. A few of them went and peeped into the tree hole They found it, but found it difficult to get it out as there is a fearsome black snake was living there.

“Try to get it out,” ordered the king. Without much hesitation one of the courtiers got a great big club and approached the tree. As the courtier was trying to get the necklace out of the hole, the snake hissed jutting out his hood out of the hole. Instantly the courtier brought down his club on the head of the black snake.

“You should have taken the necklace out of the hole without killing the snake,” said the king in dismay.

“Pardon me Great Majesty. It was about to kill me. I had to defend myself,” said the courtier.

“Anyway the matter is over.”

“But I wish to know how my necklace came to be placed in the hole of the snake,” said the king.

As the king got his necklace the crow made another sound. The wise man who seemed to have known the language of the crow revealed he would be the story behind the happening. The king too listened to sound of the crow.

“He seems to narrate a long story,” said the king.

But the real story was never revealed and never known by anybody other than the crow couple.