The Lion and the Cave That Talked
A jackal reads the pawprints at his own front door: a lion has gone in, and has not come out. So he stands outside and talks to the cave.
In a forest region lived a lion named Kharanakhara. One day, wandering here and there, his throat dry with hunger, he found nothing at all.
At sunset he came upon a large mountain cave and thought: "Surely some creature comes into this cave at night. I shall hide here and wait." And he hid inside.
Just then the owner of that cave, a jackal named Dadhiputchha, arrived. As he came up to the entrance he saw the lion's footprints going in — and none coming out. He stopped short: "I am done for; a lion has certainly gone inside. What shall I do now?"
So, standing at the entrance, he called out: "Ho, cave! Ho, cave!" Then he waited in silence, and called again: "Why do you not answer me? Have you forgotten the agreement you made with me — that whenever I come home from outside, you would call me in? If you will not call me today, I shall go to some other cave."
Hearing this, the lion reasoned: "Clearly this cave always calls out to its master when he comes; but today, out of fear of me, it says nothing. Then let me call him myself, so that he follows the sound in and becomes my dinner."
And the lion roared out his greeting. But at that roar the whole cave rang, and the echo of it sent every other creature in the forest running.
And the jackal, fleeing far away, went reciting this verse: "He who provides for what has not yet come comes off well. I have grown old living in this forest — and I have never once heard a cave speak."
अनागतं यः कुरुते स शोभते स शोच्यते यो न करोत्यनागतम् । वनेऽत्र संस्थस्य समागता जरा बिलस्य वाणी न कदापि मे श्रुता ॥
Moral: He who provides for what has not yet come comes off well; he who does not is to be pitied. I have grown old living in this forest — and I have never once heard a cave speak.
From the Panchatantra, Book III — Of Crows and Owls.
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