Once upon a time, there stood a huge peepal tree on the outskirts of a small village. In this tree, there lived a pair of crows with their young ones. And at the root of the tree, there lived a big black serpent in a deep hole. Every time the corws laid their eggs, the serpent crept up the tree and ate all the eggs and the young ones. With the result, the crows were never able to raise their young ones. This made the crows very sad. They didn’t know how to get rid of the killer serpent.
One day, the crows went to a fox. The fox was their friend.
“Hello dear friends, come in,” said the fox seeing the crows at his door, “You two seem to be very sad. What’s the matter?”
“The root cause of our problem is a black serpent. He is after us. He eats up our eggs and the young ones. Please help us get rid of this bloody serpent,” said the female crow to the fox.
The fox too was shocked and promised to help. She thought for a few minutes and then laid out a plan before the crows.
“Listen carefully,” said the fox, “You know where the king’s palace is situated. You’ve also seen the queen taking a bath in an open pool, inside the palace. The queen, while taking a bath always removes all her ornaments and keeps them on a tray kept by the side of the pool. While she will busy taking her bath, you two swoop down upon the tray and pick up two diamond ornaments. Drop them into the serpent’s hole. The servants will come chasing you and finding the ornaments into the serpent’s hole, they will first kill the serpent then will take the ornaments out of the hole. Thus, the serpent will be killed and you too will be saved .”
This was a very bright idea. The crows liked it. They flew to the king’s palace. There, they saw the queen taking a bath in a swimming pool. She had removed her ornaments and kept them in a tray. The crows swooped down upon the tray, picked up two expensive diamond necklaces from it and flew towards the snake’s hole. The guards ran after the crows brandishing their sticks and swords. They chased the crows and soon reached that big peepal tree, where the big black snake lived. They found the diamond necklaces, lying inside the serpent’s hole. Afraid of the snake, they first killed the snake with the sticks and the swords and then took out the ornaments and retuned to the palace.
The crows thanked the fox for his help and lived happily in the peepal tree, thereafter.
Moral—Intelligence is greater than strength.
