The Herons, the Snake and the Mongoose
A crab kindly explains to the herons how to get rid of the snake that eats their chicks. The cure turns out to be worse than the snake.
In a certain forest stood a great banyan in which many herons had built their nests. In a hollow of that same tree lived a black snake, which regularly ate the herons' chicks before their feathers had even come.
One heron, watching his young destroyed, went to the edge of a lake, hung his head and wept. A crab who lived there asked: "Uncle! Why are you crying today?" The heron said: "Brother, what can I do? That wicked snake has eaten all my young. If you know of any remedy, tell me."
The crab thought to himself: "This heron is a natural enemy of my kind. Let me give him advice that will finish him and his whole clan — and let it sound true."
He said: "Uncle, it is simple. Fetch pieces of fish meat, and lay them down one by one in a line running from the mongoose's burrow all the way to that snake's hollow. The mongoose will follow the scent of the meat to the hollow, and will kill the wicked snake for you."
The heron did exactly that. The mongoose came along eating the pieces of meat, reached the hollow, and killed the snake. The herons rejoiced.
But it did not end there. With the snake dealt with, the mongoose heard the chattering of heron chicks above him in the tree — and little by little, day after day, he ate all those herons and their young as well.
So it is said: a remedy supplied by an enemy removes one calamity and settles a greater one in your house.
नवनीतसमा वाणी कृत्वा चित्तं तु निर्दयम् । तथा प्रबोध्यते शत्रुर्यथासौ म्रियते स्वयम् ॥
Moral: With speech soft as butter and a heart without pity, one counsels an enemy in such a way that he destroys himself.
From the Panchatantra, Book I — The Loss of Friends.
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