Short Stories from Panchatantra 8

Abstract

Here is the eighth of ten 16-page boxed pamphlets, 7¼" x 9⅜". There are ten stories, each with an explicit moral highlighted apart from the story. "The Birds Pick a King" describes a crow's opposition to the appointment of the owl as king of the birds. The owl will forever hold it against the crow. In a surprising story to me, a cobra attacks an anthill; the ants then sting him all over and kill him. "The Bird with the Golden Dung" is new to me. A poor hunter traps the bird, fears the taxes and suspicions if he continually grows rich from it, and offers it to a king for a one-time reward. The king agrees until an attendant finds the offer preposterous. They let the bird go. It promptly drops golden dung and everyone regrets letting it go. "The Foolish Frog" is also new to me. The frog king makes a deal with a cobra, offering one of his enemies every day in a well with a secret passage. When the cobra has eaten them all, he starts eating the frog king's friends and even threatens the frog king himself. The king closes the passage, the cobra dies inside the well, and the frog king lives a lonely life. "The Two Snakes" continues to strike me as unnecessarily complicated and magical. The illustrations are in the style of Disney.