The Demon, the Horse-Thief and the Monkey

In a certain city lived a king named Bhadrasena. He had a daughter named Ratnavati, endowed with every good quality.

A demon wanted to carry her off. He came by night but could not overpower her — and yet at those hours the princess felt his presence.

Once, at that very hour, the princess said to her friend: "Sister! Look — this Vikala, this 'Wrong-Hour', torments me every day out of season. Is there any way to deal with the wretch?"

Hearing this, the demon thought: "There must be some other creature named Vikala who comes at odd hours to take her. But he too is probably as helpless as I am. Let me take the shape of a horse and stand among the horses, and see what he looks like."

And he took a horse's shape and stood among the horses in the king's stable.

At that very time a horse-thief came into the royal stables. Looking over all the horses, he judged that demon to be the finest of them, and mounted him.

Then the demon thought: "Surely this is that Vikala, come to kill me! What do I do now?" — and in terror he began to run.

Seeing him bolt out of the gate, the thief pulled on the reins. But the harder he pulled the faster the creature seemed to go, and the thief thought: "Horses do not behave like this; this must be some demon in a horse's shape. If I jump off he will kill me — and yet my life is dear to me."

So thinking, and calling on his god, as they passed under a banyan he caught a branch and swung himself up.

Thus the two were parted, and each was delighted to have escaped with his life.

In that same banyan lived a monkey who was the demon's friend. Seeing the demon running away in fear, he called: "Friend! Why run for nothing? That is your food — eat him!"

At the monkey's words the demon resumed his own shape and turned back in anger. Seeing that, the thief, still hanging in the tree, caught the monkey's long tail, put it in his mouth, and bit down hard.

The monkey, reckoning him stronger even than the demon, was too frightened to say a word — he only shut his eyes against the pain and sat perfectly still.

Seeing him in that state, the demon recited this verse: "Monkey, by the look on your face I can tell that Vikala has caught you too. He who runs away is the one who lives."

यादृशी वदनच्छाया दृश्यते तव वानर । विकालेन गृहीतोऽसि यः पलायेत स जीवति ॥

Moral: Monkey, by the look on your face I can tell that Vikala has caught you too. He who runs away is the one who lives.

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