Story 34 - The Kinnara and the Parrots

IN a large forest there is a great Banyan tree. In that tree many Parrots roost. While they were doing so, one day, having seen a Crow flying near, a Parrot spoke to the other Parrots, and said,

“Bolawu,^[1] do not ye ever give a resting-place to this flying animal,”

he said.

While they were there many days after he said it, one day, as a great rain was falling at night, on that day the flying Crow, saying, “Ka, Ka,” came and settled on the tree near those Parrots.

That night one Parrot out of the flock of Parrots was unable to come because of that day’s rain. Having seen that this Crow was roosting on the tree, all the Parrots, surrounding and pecking and pecking the Crow, drove it out in the rain.

Again, saying, “Ka, Ka,” having returned it roosts in the same tree.

As the Parrots getting soaked and soaked were driving off the Crow in this way, an old Parrot, sitting down, says,

“What is it doing ? Because it cannot go and come in this rain it is trying ^[2] to roost here. What [harm] will it do if it be here this little time in our company ?”

thus this old Parrot said. So the other Parrots allowed it to be there, without driving away the Crow.

While it was there, the Crow in the night left excreta, and in the morning went away. At the place where the excreta fell a tree sprang up [from a seed that was in them]; it became very large.

As it was thus, one day as Kinnaras were going near that [Crows’] village, having seen that another tree was near the tree in which the Parrots roosted, the Kinnaras spoke with each other,

“In these days cannot we catch the Parrots that are in this tree ?”

they said.

Before that_: the Kinnaras were unable to catch the Parrots in the tree. There was then only that tree in which the Parrots roosted. When the Kinnaras were going along . the tree to catch the Parrots, the Parrots got to know [owing to the shaking of the tree], so all the Parrots flew away. Because of that they were unable to catch the Parrots.

The Kinnaras having [now] gone along the tree which had grown up through the Crow’s dropping the seed under the tree, easily placed the net [over the Parrots’ tree]. All the Parrots having come in the evening had settled in the tree. Having settled down, and a little time having gone, after they looked, all the Parrots being folded in the net were enclosed. The Parrots tried to go ; they could not.

While they were under the net in that way, the Parrot Chief says to the other Parrots,

“How has another tree grown up under this tree that we live in ?”

thus the Parrot Chief asked the other Parrots.

“At a time when I was not here did ye give a resting-place to any one else ?”

Then the Parrots say,

“One day when it was raining at night, a Crow having come and stayed here, went away,”

they said.

Then the Parrot Chief says,

“ I told you that very thing, ‘Don’t give a resting-place to any one whatsoever.’ Now we all have become appointed to death. To-morrow morning the Kinnaras having come and broken our wings, seizing us all will go away.”

When a little time had gone, the Parrot Chief [again] Spoke to the Parrots, and said,

“I will tell you a trick. Should you act in that way the whole of us can escape,”

the Parrot Chief said.

“When the Kinnaras come near the tree, all of you, tightly shutting your eyes and mouths, be as though dead, without even flapping your wings. Then the Kinnaras, thinking we are dead, having freed us one by one from the net, when they are throwing us down on the ground, and have taken and placed all there, fly away after they have thrown down the last one on the ground,”

he said.

“That is good,” they said.

While they were there, a Kinnara, tyirig a large bag at his waist, having come to the bottom of the tree, says,

“Every day [before], I couldn’t [catch] ye. To-day ye are caught in my net.”

Having ascended the tree, as he was going [along it] the Kinnara says,

“What is this, Bola ? Are these dead without any uncanny sound ?”

Having climbed onto the tree, after he looked [he saw that] a part having hung neck downwards, a part on the branches, a part in the net, they were as though dead.

Then the Kinnara saying,

“Ada ! Tell ye the Gods ! Yesterday having climbed the tree I had no trouble in spreading the net; to-day having come to the tree I have no trouble in releasing the net. Ada ! May the Gods be witnesses of the event that has occurred ! What am I to do with these dead bodies !”

and freeing and freeing each one from the net, threw it down on the ground.

As he threw them to the ground he said “One” at the first one that he threw to the ground, and having taken the account [of them], after all had fallen, at the time when the Kinnara, freeing the net, was coming descending from the tree, the whole flock of Parrots went flying away.

 

Village Vaedda of Bintaenna.

A version of this story from the North-western Province, by a Duraya, though shorter, contains the same incidents, the tree, however, being another Fig, the Aehaetu, Ficus tsiela. It ends as follows—

“As he [the Kinnara] was throwing them down in this way, having been counting and counting ‘One,’ the Parrot which he counted last having flapped its wings and screamed, [according to a pre-arranged plan, to show] that the man was cheated and that it had escaped, flew away. All the Parrots having gone, after they had looked into the account of the whole flock [found that] they were all correct.

“Then the Parrots said,

‘Let us not give a resting-place to the Crow. At the places where he goes he is a dangerous one. To us also, this danger came now [through him}. Ada! Because we gave this one a resting-place. O Vishnu, burst thou lightning on him who did this to us ! Ada! Where shall we all go now ?’

After flying and flying in the midst of the forest, all went to each place where they had relatives.”

The story is given in Old Deccan Days (Frere), p. 114, with the variations that a thousand crows came to the tree instead of one, and that snares of thread were naed in place of the net. The last parrot did not escape, but was taken away and sold.

In Tota Kahanl (Small), p. 64, when a parrot and its young ones were caught in a net they feigned death. All the young ones escaped by this means. The mother was captured and sold to the King, and regained her liberty by pretending to fetch some medicine to cure his illness.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Plural of Bola, regarding which see No. 5.

[2]:

Lit. “making.”