The Bird with Two Necks
One belly, two heads. One head eats a sweet fruit and gives the rest away; the other head remembers it, and later finds a fruit of its own.
In a certain lake lived a bird named Bharanda, with one belly and two necks.
Once, wandering on the seashore, it found a fruit. Then the first head said: "I have eaten many nectar-like fruits brought in by the ocean's waves, but never one like this. Is it from the Parijata tree, or the Harichandana, or some fruit of immortality fallen here by chance?"
The second head said: "If that is so, give me a little too, so that I may taste its sweetness on my own tongue."
The first head said: "Our belly is one; what is the good of eating separately? What is eaten goes to the same place. So the pleasure is already shared — let me give what is left to my beloved instead, and make her happy." And he gave the rest of the fruit to his mate.
She ate it and was delighted, and embraced and kissed him with many affectionate words.
Seeing this, the second head grew sullen and full of grief.
Some days later it found a poisonous fruit. It said to the first: "You contemptible thing! You have no regard for another's comfort. You slighted me; so I shall eat this poison fruit and settle the insult."
The first said: "Fool! Do not do it; if you do, we shall both be destroyed."
But it ate that fruit — and both of them died.
एकोदराः पृथग्ग्रीवा अन्योन्यफलभक्षिणः । असंहता विनश्यन्ति भारण्डा इव पक्षिणः ॥
Moral: One belly and separate necks, each eating what the other should have — those who are not of one mind perish, like the Bharanda birds.
From the Panchatantra, Book V — Ill-Considered Action.
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