Story 178 - Concerning the Friendship of the Hare and the Parrot

IN a certain country there are a Hare, and a Mouse-deer, and a Parrot near a river, it is said. The three every day come to the river to drink water.

One day the Parrot said to the Hare,

“Friend.”

Then the Hare having said,

“What ? We two are friends indeed. From our friendship what will be the profit ? Should you find and give me a mate we should indeed be friends,”

afterwards the Parrot said,

“If'so, stay there until the time when I come [after] finding a mate for you,”

and the Parrot drank water and went away.

On the following day, when the Parrot came he met with a Mouse-deer. Having seen the Parrot the Mouse-deer says,

“Friend, where is your friend ?”

The Parrot says,

“My friend has not come to-day.”

Then the Mouse-deer says,

“What friendship with those Hares ! If you become friendly with us what things cannot we do!”

Then the Parrot says,

“Friend, he is [my] former first friend; now then, I cannot abandon him.”

At that the Mouse-deer having become a little angry went away. Having so gone, the Mouse-deer, seeking the Hare, says to^[1] the Hare,

“ Friend, with that Parrot what friendship ! The food which that one eats is different, the place where that one lies down is different, that one is an animal which flies [in the air] above. Are we so ? We lie down in one place, we eat one food. Because of it, give up fyour] friendship with that one.”

At that the Hare became a little angry.

After that, the Mouse-deer, having gone near the Parrot, says,

“Take you [to heart] the things that I say, O Parrot-youngster.”

Thereupon the Parrot said,

“What, friend ?”

The Mouse-deer says,

“The sort called Hares at any place whatever are not trusted.”

Then the Parrot asked,

“Well then, what are you telling me to do ?”

Then the Mouse-deer says,

“On account of it, give up your friendship with the Hare.”

To that the Parrot did not consent.

After that, the Mouse-deer, having gone near the Hare, said,

“Friend, we having been in the midst of this forest, except that there is convenience through the water, through the food there is none. Because of it, let us go into the midst of the villages.”

The Hare also being pleased at this, and having said,

“Ha; let us go,”

the two together went into the midst of the villages. Having gone there, the two crept into a bush.

A man saw that this Hare and Mouse-deer crept into the bush. Having seen it, the man spoke to yet [other] men, and having brought nets they fixed them. When they had thus fixed them the Hare bounded away; the Mouse-deer was caught-

The Hare having bounded away from there, want to the spot where it formerly stayed at first. After that, it met with the Parrot. Then the Parrot asked the Hare,^[2] “Where, friend, is the Mouse-deer ?”

The Hare said,

“Friend, men seized the one who tried to break the friendship of us two.”

Then the Parrot says,

“Friend, through his going to break our friendship that we [have had] for a long time, danger befel that very one.”

Having said it, the friendship of the two was in the very same manner [as before].

Anun nahanda yanakota tamumma nahinawa.
While they are going to kill others they die themselves.

North-western Province.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Lit., with (ekka), a common form of expression.

[2]:

Lit., from the hand of the Hare.