The Donkey Who Insisted on Singing

In a certain place lived a donkey named Uddhata. He carried loads by day and roamed as he pleased at night; the washerman would tie him up, but once he had grown strong he broke his tether and got out.

He had a jackal for a friend, and the two of them together would get into the cucumber fields, eat their fill, and be back in their own places before daybreak.

One night, in the middle of the field, the donkey grew exhilarated and said to the jackal: "Nephew! Look, look — what a clear night! Let me sing. Tell me, in what mode shall I sing?"

The jackal said: "Uncle! Why this pointless disturbance? We are engaged in theft, and thieves and lovers should keep quiet. A man fond of coughing should not go stealing; a man whose tongue is greedy should not expect to live long. And your singing is not sweet either — it carries like a conch heard from far off. The field-guards are lying asleep here; they will get up and tie us, or beat us. So eat this excellent cucumber and give up this business of singing."

The donkey said: "Fool! You are a forest creature; you know nothing of the sweetness of music, which is why you talk like this." The jackal said: "Uncle, that may be; but you do not know music — you only make a harsh noise. What is the good of that suicidal business?"

The donkey said: "Fool! I do not know music? Listen to its divisions —" and he ran through the seven notes, the three scales, the twenty-one modulations, the forty-nine tones, the three measures, the three tempos, the thirty-six ragas. "So how do you, an ignorant creature, stop me from speaking?"

The jackal said: "Uncle! In that case, let me stand at the gate of the field and watch for the guards; then sing as you please."

And once he had withdrawn, the donkey began to bray.

Hearing the donkey's noise, the guards came running, grinding their teeth, and beat him with sticks until he dropped to the ground. Then they tied a hollow mortar round his neck and went back to sleep.

But by the nature of his kind he was free of the pain in a moment and got up again — for with dogs, horses and donkeys especially, the pain of a beating does not last an hour.

And with the mortar round his neck he set off at a run, nibbling grass as he went. Just then the jackal, seeing him from a distance, said with a laugh: "Well done, uncle! Though I told you, you would not stop singing — and here is this remarkable jewelled necklace, awarded to you for your song."

साधु मातुल गीतेन मया प्रोक्तोऽपि न स्थितः । अपूर्वोऽयं मणिबन्धः सम्प्राप्तो गीतलक्षणम् ॥

Moral: Well done, uncle! Though I told you, you would not stop singing — and here is this remarkable jewelled necklace, awarded to you for your song.

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