Story of 2 Parrots
Once upon a time, a mother parrot was out in search of food for her 2 baby parrots. A hunter stole the 2 baby parrots from the nest and took off. One of the baby parrots managed to escape and flew off a distance and landed near a hermit’s cottage. The hermit took loving care of the baby parrot. The other parrot lived with the hunter and was taught to speak human language but the hunter spoke very rough language. One day a king who had lost his way passed the cottage of the hunter. The parrot saw the king and said, “O come, come hunter and seize this person who is coming on a horse, seize him, bind him, kill him kill him.” Hearing this, the king was very displeased with the parrot and rode further away. This time as he was passing the hermit’s cottage he heard another parrot who said, “O come soon dear hermit, for a guest is here we must welcome him and give him cool shade under this tree and treat our guest with cool waters and sweet fruits!” Hearing this the king stopped and asked the parrot, “It is so strange as I met another parrot who looked exactly same like you, but he spoke unkind words and was very rude while you are so sweet to listen to.”
The parrot related to the king the story of the hunter and how both brothers had been separated from their mother. And how they were raised by different people. The king rested in the hermit’s cottage and reached a conclusion. One learns to speak the language with whoever one is associated with.
Wisdom, Life Lessons, and Rules: We pick up the way we speak to others from the culture we are exposed to since childhood. We have learnt their style, their way of talking from the people we associate since childhood and we may not know any other way, so our language and even our way of thinking is vastly influenced by them.
Therefore, one has to choose circle of friends and company one keeps very wisely. We want to associate with people who are kind and of good character, good values and high principles.
Associating with bad company makes us cultivate more vices instead of virtues!
Credits: The Panchatantra by Visnu Sarma translated by Chandra Rajan
और ये भीAs
the tribal king was returning home with his catch, one of the parrots
somehow escaped from the net and flew away to the other end of the
forest. At the other end of the forest was a sage’s hut. The parrot that
escaped started living here with the sage. The other parrot was carried
to the tribal king’s home and he began living there with the tribal
king and his family.
Many months later,
one day, a king from a nearby kingdom was passing through the forest on
his horse. While riding, he came near the tribal king’s house. As he
came nearer to the house, the tribal king’s parrot who was kept in a
cage outside the house, started shouting loudly, “Who is there? Catch
this man who is coming here and beat him black and blue.”
The king was displeased on hearing the parrot talk in such a filthy way and decided to ride in the other direction. Soon, he reached the other end of the forest where the sage’s hut was situated. When the king came closer to the hut, the sage’s parrot, who was also kept in a cage outside the hut, said politely, “You are welcome, dear sir. Please come in and have a seat. Would you like a glass of water and some sweets?” After having welcomed the guest with proper manners, the parrot called out to his master, “Guruji, you have a visitor. Please take him inside and offer him some refreshment.”
The king was amazed to see the intelligence and manners of this parrot. He realized the contrast between the tribal king’s parrot who was extremely rude and the sage’s parrot who was polite and courteous. He understood that a good environment and training always give better results and that a man is known by the company he keeps.
इसी तरह की एक अन्य कहानी में - जोकि दिल्ली के कुछ निजी स्कूलों की पाठ्यपुस्तक में शामिल है - दोनों तोते क्रमशः पंडित व क़साई के घर पलते हैं और इसी आधार पर एक के व्यवहार को श्रेष्ठ तथा दूसरे के व्यवहार को निकृष्ट दिखाया गया है। इस 'लोककथा' के कई संस्करण हैं। कुछ शिकारी को निशाना बनाते हैं, तो कुछ क़साई को या आदिवासियों को। मगर एक बात सबमें समान है - सभी में ऋषि/ब्राह्मण/पंडित का महिमामंडन किया गया है। इस तरह की घोर जातिवादी कहानियाँ निजी स्कूलों की पाठ्यपुस्तकों में आसानी से जगह पाती हैं। NCERT की एक अंग्रेज़ी की पाठ्यपुस्तक में भी इस तरह की कहानी को शामिल तो किया गया है, मगर उसमें जातिवादी पूर्वाग्रह से बचने की सावधानी ज़रूर बरती गई है - शिकारी या क़साई के बदले 'चोरों' को दिखाया गया है। लेकिन इसके बाद यह कहानी भी ऋषि के गुणगान पर जाकर ही टिकती है। लगता है जैसे इन कहानियों का उद्देश्य इंसानों के व्यवहार पर माहौल से पड़ने वाले असर को दर्शाना न होकर एक वर्ग की जन्मजात श्रेष्ठता और दूसरों की जन्मजात हीनता दिखाना हो।
अब ये कहानी पढ़िए जो इन और इनसे मिलती-जुलती नैतिक कथाओं से प्रेरणा लेकर रची गई है।
दो काल्पनिक तोते, एक सच्ची कथा
