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FStories Cave

The story 'The Cave that Talked' from Panchatantra follows a hungry lion who hides in a jackal's cave to catch him. The clever jackal, noticing the lion's presence, tricks him into revealing himself by pretending the cave is unwelcoming. This tale, part of the ancient Panchatantra collection, teaches lessons on wise conduct and cleverness through animal stories.

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48 views1 page

FStories Cave

The story 'The Cave that Talked' from Panchatantra follows a hungry lion who hides in a jackal's cave to catch him. The clever jackal, noticing the lion's presence, tricks him into revealing himself by pretending the cave is unwelcoming. This tale, part of the ancient Panchatantra collection, teaches lessons on wise conduct and cleverness through animal stories.

Uploaded by

pattrohit
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Cave that Talked

(a story from Panchatantra)

A hungry lion roamed the forest in search of food. He could not find any animal to kill.
The more he wandered, the hungrier he became. Finally, he saw the mouth of a big cave.
The lion said to himself, ‘I think some animal lives here. I shall wait behind the bush
opposite, until he comes out. I shall pounce on him.’
He waited for a long time, but no one came out.
The lion thought, ‘The fellow must have gone out. I shall go in and wait for him. I am
sure he will just walk in and into my mouth.’ So the lion went in and hid himself in a dark
corner.
The cave was the home of the jackal. He returned shortly. As he was about to enter the
cave, he noticed footprints. ‘These are the footprints of a big animal. Probably he is still
inside. It may be dangerous to go in. Let me find out,’ he said to himself.
The jackal was clever. He called out in a loud voice, ‘Hello, dear cave! My dear cave.’
There was silence. He shouted again, ‘Hello, cave! Hello my dear cave! Why don’t you
answer me? Are you dead? What has happened to you?’
‘You always welcome me when I return home. Why are you quiet today? If you do not
reply, I shall go to some other cave.’
The lion heard the shouts of the jackal. He said to himself, ‘This cave is in the habit of
welcoming the jackal. Now it is afraid of me and does not talk. The jackal will go away if
he is not welcomed.’
So the lion roared, ‘Hello, hello! Welcome home, my friend.’
‘He must be hungry indeed,’ mused the wise jackal as he fled the place.

The stories of Panchatantra, originally written in Sanskrit, are very old. Legend has it
that a king who had three foolish sons engaged a versatile teacher, Vishnusarman who
taught them how to be happy and successful in life. Pancha means five, tantra means
doctrines of conduct or modes of action, namely, confidence or firmness of mind,
creation of prosperity or affluence, earnest endeavour, friendship, and knowledge.
Panchatantra depicts nitishastra (wise conduct of life) through a series of animal stories.
We have included another story from Panchatantra, Union is Strength, and a scripted
version of The Rabbit and the Lion by the contemporary Indian playwright Kamala
Ramchandani-Naharwar in this section.

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