The Crow and the Quail
From the Hitopadesha
Retold* by Rohini Chowdhury
Upon a tree there lived a crow, and beneath it lived a quail.
Once all the birds decided to go to the sea-shore in honour of Lord Garuda, king of all the birds. The quail decided to travel with the crow.
On their way, the crow and the quail saw a dairyman walking along the road beneath with a pot of curds on his head. The crow swooped down stole and ate some of the curds from the pot, and he did so again and again. When the dairyman put down his pot and looked up, he saw both the crow and the quail above. The crow flew swiftly away, but the quail was slower, and so was caught and killed by the dairyman.
Do not keep company with villains, for no good will come of it.
*Based on the Sanskrit Hitopadesha by Narayana as edited by Wasudevacharya Ainapure (1908), and on the English translation by Frederic Pincott (1880). Both works are in the public domain.
In addition, I have also used and drawn upon as a reference source the English translation of the Hitopadesha by A.N.D. Haksar, published by Penguin Books in 1998. My grateful thanks to the translator, Mr Haksar, for his gracious permission in allowing me to do so.
