Once upon a time there was a dense jungle in the south. There was a huge banyan tree with countless branches. Many crows live on that tree. The name of the king of that group of crows is Varma. In a mountain cave near that banyan tree, Arimardhanam, the owl king, lives with his followers. There is a rivalry between the species of crow and owl. Wherever crows were found, the owl king along with his followers would kill them. Every day crows lose their lives. Varna then arranged an emergency meeting with his ministers and old crow Ujjeevi . “Friends! When we are asleep and helpless at night, our enemies, the owls are attacking the crow species. Owls cannot see during the day. At that time, they are safe in the cave. It is difficult for us to find the caves where they live. We must quickly find a solution to this problem if our species is to survive. Face the enemy. War? Or shift our base from this tree? Something must be done,” said Varma, the crow king.
“King! Go to war only if you feel it is necessary. The enemy is stronger than us, let us go peacefully first. “If there is nothing else to do, let’s go to war,” suggested a crow. “The owl race cannot be trusted. Even if we make a peace treaty, we cannot be sure that they will abide by it. So it is better to go to war,” said another crow. “Enemies are treacherous and very strong. We don’t want war, we don’t want peace, it’s better if we all move from this tree to another place,” said another crow. “If we all are united, no one can do anything.” The ministers gave their advice. After listening to everyone’s advice, the crow king said, “You are older than all the crows. Everyone’s opinions have been heard. Finally give your opinion” asked the old crow Ujjeevi for her opinion.
“Great king! Now the opinions of the ministers that we have heard are mentioned in the books of royal ethics. Although they are very good advice, in the present situation, as the enemy is strong, deception and justice are very necessary. There is no doubt that we will be more successful with these than the advice given by the ministers. If one is persuaded to become a sacrifice, one can destroy the enemy with ease,” said the old crow Ujjeevi. “There must be a good reason for the enmity between us and the owls. what is that?” asked the crow king Varna. “King Crow Varma has a reason for this enmity. Now let me tell you, listen,” began the old crow Ujjeevi.
“Once upon a time there was an Eagle as the king of the birds. As the Eagle was not working properly and could not provide proper protection from the enemies, some birds decided to elect another bird king in his place. All the birds in the forest gathered. The birds decided to crown the owl as the king. At the time of the coronation, the crow came, the parrot, the swan, the peacock, “I don’t agree that a scary looking owl should be the king while swallows are intelligent birds, and it is not the right decision,” said the crow. Why do we need to choose an owl as a king when we have an Eagle as our king? A strong man can protect us only if he is a king. Even his enemies are afraid of him. Can this owl really protect us from our enemies? “Owl, who cannot see eyes by day, and you who cannot see eyes by night, all of you are going backwards,” asked the crow bitterly.
“Let’s gather all the birds once again and decide who will be the king,” the birds went to their nests. The owl sat on the throne with his wife and waited for the coronation. Meanwhile, the owl’s wife said, “You are not a king, but a crow has prevented you.” So all the birds went to their nests. Let us also go to the nest.” Hearing these words, the male owl was very sad. “The evil crow has prevented my coronation. From now on we are enmity with the crow race,” she said and went to her base. The crow was very saddened by this incident. “I have brought enmity with the owl species by talking unnecessarily,” the crow reached his abode, distressed. Great King! Bring me to the enemy. “I will take care of the rest,” said the old man, Ujjeevi. “There is a lot of danger if the elderly go to the owl nest, please don’t go,” said the crow king.
“Listen to me fully, King! I go to the enemy base and pretend to seek refuge. I earn the mercy of the enemy in such a way that they feel sorry for me. See what happens after that. Do not get angry in such cases. Hasty decisions should not be taken. First you all have to help me. Bring some blood and put it on my body. All of you leave this tree and relocate elsewhere. I am the only one here and will lead the story,” said the old crow Ujjeevi. He immediately drew blood and applied it to the old crow Ujjeevi’s excrement. After that all the crows evacuated the base from there. The old crow Ujjeevi came to the owl’s nest covered in blood and fell down. Seeing Ujjeevi, the owl army tried to capture him. “Friends. ! Wait, hear me out. Take your owl to the king. I have to tell them some things,” said Ujjeevi. Ujjeevi took it to King owl. “Say what you want to say,” said the owl king.
“Great king! You are very strong. I told Varma, the king of our crows, that I should not fight with you. He was enraged at my words, branded me as a traitor, beat me severely, and drove him away saying, ‘Stay with the owls you like,'” said Ujjeevi. The owl king took pity on the old man Ujjeevi and included him in his team. Some owls protested this decision. Their argument is to give a place in our base to one who belongs to the enemy caste. If you think about the king, do you want to be beaten? After giving shelter to the owl king, who can resist? So Ujjeevi continued to live with everyone. The old crow Ujjeevi learned the habits of the owls and the secrets of the cave. One day when the owls were fast asleep in broad daylight, the old crow Ujjeevi came out of the cave. There is dung left by several cattle a few days ago. It dried well in the sun. Ujjeevi brought the dung and closed the cave door. The entire entrance was blocked with dried dung, leaving no way for the owls to get out of the cave. Immediately Ujjeevi went to the king of crows and told the whole matter.
“Now what’s the next task?” said the king of crows. “All our army and we must go to the cave where the owls are. Each one should take a dry stick and throw it in a big pile in front of the cave entrance covered with dry dung. Then set fire to the dry sticks. Along with the dry sticks, the dry dung that forms the wall of the cave entrance burns and the owls suffocate due to the smoke and debris. “said the old crow Ujjeevi. All the crows went out crowing that they had a chance to take revenge on the hostile owls and just as the old crow Ujjeevi said, they set a big fire in front of the owls’ den. Owls fall down suffocating, Some owls escaped from there and ran away. Since then all the crows lived happily and without any danger.
MORAL : Such accidents happen when someone joins the unknown. The enemy always speaks sweetly like a honeyed sword. If you believe those words and lead them, such fatal accidents will happen.
