On Mount Arbuda in the north, there lived a lion called Mahavikrama. Now a little mouse who also lived there, had made it a habit to nibble at the ends of the lion’s mane as he slept in his mountain lair. The lion was angry at his mane being nibbled day and after day, but each time he tried to catch the mouse, the tiny creature would run into its hole.

“What should I do?” pondered the lion. “This mouse is too tiny to be caught by me. When an enemy is too insignificant to be defeated by strength, then to defeat him, a combatant like himself must be employed.”

Having so reflected, the lion went to a nearby village and brought from there a cat called Dadhikarna. He kept the cat in his cave and fed it well on bits of meat. The mouse, terrified of the cat, stopped coming out of his hole and from then on, the lion slept in his peace with his mane untouched. Whenever the lion heard the mouse, he would give the cat an extra ration of meat.

Then one day, the mouse grew so hungry that he could bear it no longer. He came out of his hole to search for food, but was caught by the cat, and killed and eaten. Now the lion, who could no longer hear the mouse, had no more use for the cat and could no longer be bothered to look after it. In time, he stopped feeding it, and the poor cat starved to death.

A servant should never make his master free of need, lest he not be needed any longer.