The Lion that sprang to Life
Four friends lived in a city. Three of
them were very learned in all sciences but had no common sense. The fourth
boy named Subuddhi was not well-versed in scriptures or sciences but had a
fund of common sense. One day all of them thought that there was no use of
their learning unless it brought them money to live happily. Therefore, they
decided to go out and seek the patronage of kings. They set out to meet
patrons of learning.
On the way, the eldest of them pointing
out to the fourth man told the others, “Friends, this fellow is an
unlettered fool. He has common sense and nothing else. I am not going to
share my earnings with this fellow. Let him go home.”
The second man also supported the eldest
boy’s suggestion.
But the third boy said, “Friends, it is
not proper to send him back. We played together and he is one of us. Let us
share our gains with him because elders have said:
“He who has a narrow mind
Thinks this is mine, this is his.
To a large-hearted person
The whole world is his family.”
In the end, the other two agreed with the
third boy’s suggestion and let the common sense man accompany them. As they
continued to travel they reached a forest where they saw a heap of bones.
One of them told the rest, “Look, here is an opportunity to test our
learning. Some animal is dead. Let us bring it to life using the knowledge
we have acquired.”
The first man said, “Okay, I will use my
learning to assemble the bones into a skeleton.” With the power of learning
he ordered all the bones to come together and become a skeleton.
When the skeleton was ready, the second
man commanded flesh and blood to fill the skeleton and skin to cover it.
When the third man was about to bring
life to the body, Subuddhi, who had only common sense, warned him, “Look,
this looks like the body of a lion. If it comes to life, he will kill all of
us.”
The man who was to put life into the body
of the animal told Subuddhi, “You are a fool. Do you think I will lose this
opportunity to test my learning.”
Subuddhi then told him to wait so that he
could climb up a tree for safety and went up a tree. When the first man gave
him life, the lion came alive and killed all the three learned men.
Moral:
“Even if one is very learned
If he is without common sense
Becomes the butt of ridicule
Like the learned in this story.” |