In a certain town, there lived a king, by the name of Devashakti. He had a son who grew leaner and leaner every day, for he had a snake in his stomach. In spite of several treatments by well-known physicians, he was not cured at all. Thoroughly fed up with his life, the prince went to another town, where he lived in a temple and maintained himself by begging alms.
Now the king of that country had two young daughters. Every day, at sunrise, they would approach their father and bow at his feet. One would say, “My Lord, with your blessings, all joys are bestowed upon us.” The other would say, “Your Majesty, one only gets the fruits of one’s actions.”
One day, the king got very angry with his second daughter and said to his ministers, “Give this girl of mine away in marriage to any stranger you come across, so that she gets the fruits of her actions.”
“It will be done, Your Majesty,” replied the ministers.
Now, in their search for a stranger, the ministers came across this prince, who was living in the temple, and they married off the princess to him.
The princess was very happy with the marriage and looked upon her husband as God. Shortly after their marriage, the prince and princess set out for another part of the country. On the way, the princess left her husband to rest under a tree and went into the nearby town to buy oil, salt, rice and other provisions. After making the necessary purchases, she returned to find the prince fast asleep.
Suddenly, she saw a snake emerging from the prince’s mouth and yet another from an ant-hill nearby. Now both these snakes had come out for fresh air. When they saw each other, they got very annoyed. “You wicked creature!” said the ant-hill snake to the other. “Why are you torturing this handsome prince? If he would only drink a gruel, made of cumin seed and mustard, you would surely be dead!”
“Well,” replied the other, “you, too, could be destroyed if someone poured hot water or hot oil on the ant-hill. Then he could get the two pots of gold that you are guarding.”
The princess, who was standing behind a tree, heard their argument and came to know their secrets. She acted accordingly. As a result, her husband recovered his health and, at the same time, they had two pots of gold to themselves.
“And so,” continued Prakarakarna, “that’s why I said, ‘Those who refuse to co-operate, Shall be destroyed like the two snakes.'”
When Arimaradana, the owl king, had heard Prakarakarna’s advice, he finally agreed that the crow should not be killed.
Then Raktaksha said to the other ministers with a smile, “Through your lack of understanding, some disaster is bound to befall the master. I repeat once again, the crow must be killed!”
But in spite of so much opposition from Raktaksha, the owls did not listen and took the crow to their cave. On the way, the crow suddenly cried out, “Oh, what is the use of this miserable life? I shall end it by entering the fire. Please don’t stop me!”
“Why do you intend entering fire?” asked Raktaksha.
“Well,” replied Sthirajeevi, “I have been reduced to this plight by Meghavarna, because of you. Now, I should like to be reborn an owl, so that I can have my revenge on him.”
Now, Raktaksha was an expert in the nitishastras and so he said to the crow, “You speak very charmingly but you are crooked! Even if you were reborn an owl, you would still be a crow at heart. As the story goes: ‘Turning down the offers of marriage Made by the Sun God, the Cloud, the Lord of the Wind, and the Mountain, A female mouse chose a husband of her own kind.'”
“How was that?” asked the others.
And Raktaksha told: THE STORY OF THE FEMALE MOUSE
