The Merchant and the Bullock

There was once a rich merchant’s son who set off for the city of Mathura to trade. One of the bulls pulling his cart was named Sanjívaka. Sanjívaka pulled so hard that he snapped his yoke. A mountain stream had turned the road to mud, and the bull slipped, fell down and hurt himself all over.

The merchant’s son could see that Sanjívaka was too badly bruised to walk. He tried and tried to get him up, but the bull would not rise. In the end he gave up hope and went on his way, leaving Sanjívaka lying in the road.

But as luck would have it, the bull slowly got better. He stood up. He ate the soft young grass and grew strong again. Then he wandered down to the bank of the river Yamuna. There he ate the green grass and roamed wherever he liked, and he grew fat and powerful. He strutted about with his great hump held high, tearing up anthills with his horns and bellowing loudly.

Now, in a forest nearby lived a lion named Pingalaka, who ruled all the animals by his strength. He had two jackals as his ministers. One was named Damanaka and the other Karataka.

One day the lion went down to the Yamuna for a drink. Close by, he heard Sanjívaka bellow. The lion had never heard a sound like it, and it seemed to fill the whole sky.

“What animal can make a noise like that?” he thought. “It must be some huge creature. I had better go, before it sees me. It might kill me, or chase me out of my forest.” So he hurried home without drinking a drop, and stayed there feeling afraid. He tried to hide his fear from his followers.

But the clever jackal Damanaka noticed. “Our master went to drink,” he whispered to Karataka, “so why did he come back so fast without drinking? We should ask him.”

“What business is it of ours?” said Karataka. “Haven’t you heard about the monkey who poked his nose into things and pulled out the wedge?”

“A wise minister ought to understand his master’s mind,” said Damanaka. “Who wants to spend his whole life just filling his belly? A dog is happy with a bone, but a lion goes after an elephant.”

“And if the master gets angry with you instead?” asked Karataka. “Kings are like mountains: rough, hard, and full of dangerous creatures.”

“True,” said Damanaka. “But a wise servant learns his master’s ways little by little, and so wins his trust.”

“Well then, go ahead,” said Karataka.

So Damanaka went before the lion, who greeted him kindly. Damanaka bowed and sat down. “King,” he said, “my family have served yours for generations. A good king should listen to servants who wish him well, and they should give him good advice when he needs it, even if he does not ask. So, if you trust me and will not be angry, may I ask you something?”

“You are loyal and trustworthy,” said Pingalaka. “Speak without fear.”

“You were thirsty and went to drink,” said Damanaka. “Why did you come back without drinking, looking so worried?”

The lion thought, “He has seen through me. Why hide the truth from such a faithful servant?” So he said, “I will tell you. When I went to drink, I heard a noise I have never heard before. I think it was the roar of some animal stronger than I am. Usually a creature’s strength matches the size of its voice. Now that this beast has come here, I can’t call my forest my own. I must go and live somewhere else.”

“You are brave, my king,” said Damanaka. “Why leave your forest over a noise? Only cowards run from a sound. Lots of noises seem terrible until you know what is making them.” And he told the lion about a jackal who was frightened by the booming of a drum, and found it was only wood and skin. “If you like,” he said, “I will go and find out what it is.”

“Go, if you dare,” said the lion.

So Damanaka went to the bank of the Yamuna and wandered slowly along, following the sound, until he found the bull eating grass. He went up to him, made friends with him, and then hurried back to tell the lion the truth.

Pingalaka was delighted. “If you have really seen this great ox and made friends with him,” he said, “then bring him here somehow, so that I can see him for myself.”

Damanaka went back to the bull. “Come along,” he said. “Our master, the king of the beasts, wishes to see you.” But Sanjívaka was afraid and would not come.

So the jackal trotted off to the lion and persuaded him to promise the bull that he would be safe. Carrying this promise, he cheered Sanjívaka up and led him to meet the lion.

Sanjívaka bowed low to the king. Pingalaka welcomed him politely. “Stay here at my side from now on,” he said, “and do not be afraid.”

The bull agreed. And little by little Sanjívaka became the lion’s closest friend, until Pingalaka hardly listened to anyone but him.

Where this tale comes from

This is the opening of the first book’s central animal story in the Panchatantra, here retold from the version in Somadeva’s eleventh-century Sanskrit Kathá Sarit Ságara, translated by C. H. Tawney (Project Gutenberg #40588). In Tawney’s footnote this whole chapter is matched to the first book of the Panchatantra and to “The separation of friends,” the second book of the Hitopadesha.

The story goes on to tell how the jealous jackal Damanaka, left out once the lion and the bull become friends, sets them against each other. In Somadeva’s book a minister tells the whole tale to a prince to show that good sense wins more than strength.

Read the original: Somadeva, Kathá Sarit Ságara, tr. C. H. Tawney: ‘Story of the Ox abandoned in the Forest’ (Project Gutenberg #40588)

Best for ages 6–8 — the start of a famous animal story about fear, friendship and clever advisers.

A closer reading

Pingalaka hears a sound and turns it into a whole account of an enemy: loudness must mean size, size must mean strength, and strength must mean a threat to his rule. Damanaka’s useful first step is to find out what actually made the noise. The bull is grazing, not challenging the lion.

The two animals fear each other for different reasons. The lion does not know what the bull is; the bull knows he is being invited to meet a predator. Damanaka therefore needs both investigation and a promise of safety. Telling the bull simply to be brave would not address the unequal risk of the meeting.

Damanaka’s service also wins him access to power. His discussion with Karataka is about ambition as well as assistance, and the final sentence suggests a new difficulty when the lion listens almost exclusively to one friend. This episode establishes the friendship whose later destruction the source note describes; it does not yet tell that later conflict.

Try this with the story

Divide a page into ‘heard or seen’, ‘assumed’ and ‘checked’. Sort the lion’s bellow, imagined enemy, Damanaka’s visit and the safety promise. Then explain why the lion and bull each need different information before they can meet.

Think about it

• Which parts of the lion’s feared enemy come from evidence, and which from guesses?
• Why is the bull’s fear of meeting the lion understandable?
• What does Damanaka gain from helping them meet?
• What concern is raised by the lion listening almost only to his new friend?

Related stories

• The Jackal And The Drum — the fable Damanaka tells the frightened lion
• The Story of the Monkey and the Log — the fable Karataka uses to warn his friend
• The Story of the Bug and the Flea — a fable told later in the same story