The Crows and the Golden Chain
A cobra in the tree's hollow eats every chick the crows hatch. Their friend the jackal suggests a theft rather than a fight.
In a certain forest stood a great banyan, and in it a crow and his mate had their nest. In a hollow of the same tree lived a black cobra. Every time the crow-hen laid eggs and the chicks hatched, the snake came out of its hollow and ate them.
Grieving, the pair went to their friend the jackal: "Brother, this wicked snake has eaten our young. Tell us what to do. What happiness is there for one whose field is on a riverbank, whose wife is in another's power, or whose house holds a snake?"
The crow said: "I will fight him and kill him." The jackal stopped him: "No. Meet that venomous creature head-on and it is you who will be destroyed. An enemy is killed by contrivance, not by weapons. Listen —
"In the city is the king's inner palace. When the queens and princes bathe, they take off their gold chains, pearl strings and ornaments and leave them on the edge of the tank. Let one of you go, pick up a golden chain in your beak — and, in full view of everyone, fly slowly back and drop it into the hollow of this very tree."
The crow-hen did exactly that. She lifted a chain and flew off slowly, so that the king's men saw her and came running after her, and she let the chain fall into the snake's hole.
The men climbed the tree and put a hand into the hollow. Out came the black cobra, hood raised — and they beat it to death on the spot. The chain was recovered, and the crows' enemy was finished. After that the pair lived on in that tree without fear.
So it is said: what a stratagem achieves, strength cannot.
उपायेन हि यत्कुर्यात्तन्न शक्यं पराक्रमे । काकया कनकसूत्रेण कृष्णसर्पो निपातितः ॥
Moral: What a stratagem can accomplish, sheer force cannot: a crow-hen, by means of a golden chain, brought down a black cobra.
From the Panchatantra, Book I — The Loss of Friends.
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