Chapter 25 - The Ichneumon, the Mouse and the Snake

[Source: Kah-gyur, iv. ff. 213, 214.]

A very long time ago, it once rained unseasonably seven days long, and an ichneumon took refuge in a mouse-hole. Into the same hole came, after wandering to and fro, a snake, alarmed by the rain. Now the ichneumon was preparing to kill the mouse, but the snake said, “O honoured ones, as we have all suffered from the agony of intolerable woe, therefore we ought to remain here without exposing each other to danger and free from disturbance.” The snake was named Nandasena, the ichneumon Nanda, and the mouse Gaṅgādatta.

Nandasena and Nanda said to Gaṅgādatta, “Go stealthily, and try to find some food for us.” As the mouse was honest and well-disposed, it zealously began to look for food for those two, but could not find any. Nanda said to Nandasena, “If Gaṅgādatta comes back without food, I shall eat Gaṅgādatta.” But Nandasena thought, “Even during the anguish of intolerable woe did this ichneumon intend to kill that mouse; there is no need to say, then, what will happen if the mouse returns without bringing food. I had better give it notice beforehand.”

So the snake informed the mouse, saying, “Nanda has spoken thus: ‘If Gaṅgādatta comes back without bringing food, I will eat Gaṅgādatta.’” Gaṅgādatta, who, after seeking for food, had found none, thought, “Without doubt he will devour me,” and said to Nandasena, “Ās one who is weakened and oppressed by hunger becomes merciless, therefore say to the ungrateful creature that Gaṅgādatta will return no more.”