Hundred-Wit, Thousand-Wit and One-Wit

In a certain lake lived two fish named Shatabuddhi — Hundred-Wit — and Sahasrabuddhi — Thousand-Wit. A frog named Ekabuddhi, One-Wit, was their friend. The three would spend some time at the water's edge in conversation and then go back into the water.

One evening, when their talk was over, some fishermen came near that lake carrying nets and a load of dead fish. Looking at the lake they said to one another: "There are plenty of fish in this lake and not much water. We shall come here tomorrow morning." And they went home.

Hearing this, the three were alarmed. The frog said: "Shatabuddhi! You heard what the fishermen said. What should we do now — flee, or stay? Tell me quickly."

Sahasrabuddhi laughed: "Friend, do not be afraid; one should not take fright at mere words. The intentions of snakes, of scoundrels and of all ill-minded creatures do not come to pass — that is how the world keeps going. So their coming is unlikely. And if they do come, I shall save you and myself by the power of my wit, for I know many ways of moving through water."

Shatabuddhi said: "You are right, Sahasrabuddhi. For the intelligent, nothing in the world is out of reach. Where neither water nor the rays of the sun can go, there the wits of the intelligent still enter."

But the frog said: "I have only one wit — to run. So I am going to another lake today." And that very night he went with his wife to another lake.

In the morning the fishermen came and cast their net over the lake — and every creature in it, high and middling and low, fish and tortoises and frogs and crabs, was taken. Shatabuddhi and Sahasrabuddhi too, for all their knowledge of currents and their crooked darting, evaded it a long while and then fell into the net and died.

In the afternoon the fishermen went home well pleased. Because of the weight, one carried Shatabuddhi across his shoulder, and the other slung Sahasrabuddhi from a cord.

Seeing them carried off like that, the frog One-Wit said to his wife from the edge of his tank: "My dear! Look, look! Hundred-Wit is riding on a head and Thousand-Wit is dangling from a cord — and I, One-Wit, am playing in clear water."

शतबुद्धिः शिरस्थोऽयं लम्बते च सहस्रधीः । एकबुद्धिरहं भद्रे क्रीडामि विमले जले ॥

Moral: Hundred-Wit is riding on a head and Thousand-Wit is dangling from a cord; and I, One-Wit, my dear, am playing in clear water.

From the Panchatantra, Book V — Ill-Considered Action.