He had not expected to be in such a situation. He started thinking, What has the world come to? Why is it that people do disfavors to the ones who does favors to them?
He could not understand. He was very dejected and he sat on a stone. He did not know what to say or do. He only had his last hope of the last testifier being of help to him. The tiger was now more than eager to eat him. Puret Ba started praying to God, Please God, save me or else all goodness in the earth will be gone. People will start believing in doing disfavors to those who do them good favors. God, please help me.”
Just at that moment, Chature, the fox, was passing by. In desperation, Puret Ba pointed at Chature and said, “That’s my last testifier. Let’s hear what he says.”
While Chature was approaching, both Puret Ba and the tiger were thinking. Puret Ba was very sad because Chature was his last witness and he wished for Chature to live up to his reputation of being smart and cunning. Puret Ba called the fox and said, “Oh wise Fox, can you wait a minute? Can you answer a question for me?”
The fox was very smart. He understood the situation right away but he needed time to formulate a plan.[break]
Chature stood at a distance and said, “What can I do for you?”
Puret Ba said to Chature, “Tell me, son, if someone does you good, would you return it with something bad?”
Having asked his question, Puret Ba went ahead and narrated the whole story. The tiger was very happy. Actually, he was more than happy because now he could eat the priest and the fox. He was overconfident of his achievement and hence did not mind when the priest told the whole story to Chature.
After hearing the story, Chature was sure that Puret Ba had been cheated and now he too was stuck, because if he did not help, chances were, he too would be eaten up along with Puret Ba by the tiger. So he started to think very fast. To buy time, he said, “Tell me again who has done whom what good, and who has done whom what bad? When I hear it again, maybe I can answer your question.”
The priest saw a ray of hope because Chature was ready to hear the story one more time.
He repeated the story. Halfway through the story, Chature said, “Wait a minute. The whole thing is very complicated. I can hardly remember and understand. After all, I’m only a fox not, a human being or a tiger. I have to see to understand. I have never seen a cage before, so I can’t tell who was where.” He further said, “Can you show me the cage?”
...to be continued
Pokharel is an educationist, consultant and author of several children’s books.
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