Chapter 48 - The revengeful Crow

[Source: Kah-gyur, iv. f. 231.]

In long-past times the men of Rājagṛha and their king determined, on account of some occurrence or other, to establish two cemeteries, and to bury men in one of them and women in the other. It happened once that a hermaphrodite died and could find room neither in the one cemetery nor in the other. In a certain locality in Rājagṛha there was a park full of roots, fruits, splendid flowers, and various singing-birds. There a Rishi dwelt with shaven head, who fed upon roots, fruits, and water, and was clothed in a hide and the bark of trees. A ricinus shrub grew there in a three-cornered field, and there the body of the hermaphrodite was left. Perceiving the smell of the body, a jackal came and began to devour its flesh. Now a crow had built her nest on the top of the ricinus tree, and was nestling in it. It occurred to her to flatter the jackal, in order that he might give her the remains of the feast, so she began to sing his praises in a verse: “As I testify my reverence for thee, who art provided with the neck of a lion and the back of a bull, so deign to be gracious to me for the benefit of the asker.”

The jackal looked up and said, likewise in verse: “O most excellent of birds, wanderer through the air, lighter-up of all places, now like unto a gem dwelling upon the summit of a splendid tree.”

The crow continued, “As I have descended in order to look upon one so highly blest, and as I pay honour to thee as the king of the beasts, deign to be gracious in behalf of the asker.”

The jackal said, “O crow, whose neck is like unto the neck of the peacock; O most excellent of pleasure-bringers, fair to see, descend in order to feed at will.”

The crow flew down, and, in the company of the jackal, began to devour the dead body.

When the Rishi saw that, he said in a verse: “Alas! from afar off have I seen thee, shamelessly nestling in the shadow of the most wretched of trees, and devouring the most wretched of corpses.”

When the crow heard that, she indignantly uttered this verse: “What is it to this baldpate that the lion and the peacock, feeding here upon excellent flesh, prolong their existence by means of strangers’ gifts?”

The Rishi was affronted in his turn and uttered this verse: “See here the union of the shameless. The most wretched of birds is the crow, the most wretched of beasts is the jackal, the most wretched of trees is the ricinus tree, the most wretched of men is the hermaphrodite, the most wretched of fields is the three-cornered one.”

Then an exceedingly great anger sprang up within the mind of the crow, and she betook herself to the Rishi’s kitchen, and began to look about her. Seeing nothing there, she broke the pots and pitchers, and then flew away. When the Rishi came into his kitchen, and found the pots and pitchers broken, he knew that it was none but the bad crow who had done that, and he said in a verse: “To her who, without being told, has with shameless malice broken the things in the kitchen, shall in future, whether for praise or for blame, not even the smallest word be spoken. The wise ever obtain repose only by means of this, that they keep silence.”