Madotkata the Lion and the Camel

In a certain forest lived a lion named Madotkata, with three attendants: a leopard, a crow and a jackal.

One day a camel named Kathanaka, separated from a merchant caravan, came wandering into that forest. The lion had never seen such a creature. "What is this?" The crow said: "Master, it is edible — kill it." The lion answered: "No. He has come to my house as a guest. To kill one who comes trusting and unafraid is a sin as heavy as destroying one's own line. Go, give him my pledge of safety and bring him — ask why he has come."

Assured, the camel came, bowed and told his story. The lion was pleased: "Kathanaka! Why go back to a caravan to carry loads? Stay here with me, eat green grass, and fear nothing." So the camel stayed and passed his days in comfort.

Some time later the lion fought a wild bull elephant. Its tusks tore him badly; he kept his life but his body was so broken that walking was hard. The hunting stopped, and his attendants began to starve.

The lion said: "Find me some creature I can kill even in this state." They searched everywhere and found nothing. Then the crow and the jackal put their heads together: "Why wander? Kathanaka is right here. The master gave him his pledge — but this is the only way left." The crow said: "The master will not break a pledge of safety." The jackal said: "Then we shall arrange for the master to say it himself."

They went to the lion and proposed killing the camel. The lion roared in fury: "Shame on you! I gave him safety. Not the gift of cattle, nor of land, nor of food is greater than the gift of safety. Say that again and I will kill you instead."

The jackal bowed his head. "Master, for you to kill him after your pledge would indeed be a sin. But if he himself, of his own free will, offers you his body — then there is no fault at all." Worn out with hunger, the lion allowed it.

They all went to the camel and described their master's pitiable state. Then, one by one, the performance began. The crow stepped forward: "Master, eat my body and keep your life." The jackal objected at once: "Your body is far too small to satisfy him — and crow's flesh is not fit food." Then the jackal offered himself; the leopard stopped him: "You are of our own kind, and your flesh too is forbidden." Then the leopard offered himself; the crow stopped him: "You have claws and fangs; you are inedible as well."

Seeing all this, the simple camel thought: "Everyone is offering himself and nobody is being killed. Let me say it too — I shall win the master's affection, and someone will stop me as well." He came forward and said: "Master, take my body; both worlds will be well with me."

The sentence was not even finished when the leopard and the jackal sprang and ripped open his belly — and they all ate him together.

So it is said: a plain-dealing creature cannot survive in a court of schemers; and a master who keeps deceit about him will have his own promise killed for him.

न गोप्रदानं न महीप्रदानं न चान्नदानं हि तथा प्रधानम् । यथा वदन्तीह बुधाः प्रधानं सर्वप्रदानेष्वभयप्रदानम् ॥

Moral: Not the gift of cattle, nor of land, nor even of food is so great: the wise say that of all gifts, the gift of safety is the highest.

From the Panchatantra, Book I — The Loss of Friends.