The Quarrel of the Quails

Once upon a time a big flock of quails made their home in a forest. Their leader was the wisest bird among them.

Close by lived a fowler, a man who earned his bread by trapping quails for market. Day after day he listened to the leader calling the flock, until at last this fowler learned to make the same call himself. When the quails heard it, they thought their leader was calling them.

As soon as they had bunched up, the fowler flung his net over the lot and carried them off to town, where he quickly sold every quail he had caught.

The wise leader saw what the fowler was up to. He called the birds together. “This fowler is carrying off so many of us that we must put a stop to it,” he said. “I have a plan. The next time he throws his net over you, every one of you must poke your head out through a gap in the mesh. Then all flap together and carry it to the closest thorn bush. Leave it snagged on the thorns, and you’ll be free.”

The quails agreed it was a very good plan and promised to try it next time.

The very next day the fowler came, called them together and threw his net over them. Up rose the quails, net and all, flew away to the nearest thorn bush and left the net there. Then they hurried home to tell their leader that his idea had worked perfectly.

The fowler spent until evening picking his net off the thorns and went home with nothing. It was just the same the following day, and the day after. His wife was cross because he brought no money home.

“The trouble is,” said the fowler, “those quails are working together now. The moment the net lands, they fly away with it and leave it on a thorn bush. But as soon as they start quarreling, I’ll be able to catch them.”

Not long afterward, one of the quails, landing on the feeding ground, stepped on another’s head by accident.

“Who trod on my head?” cried the second quail angrily.

“I did, but I didn’t mean to. Don’t be angry,” said the first. But the second quail stayed angry and said unkind things.

Soon every quail in the flock had taken one side or the other. When the fowler came that day and threw his net over them, they did not fly away with it. Instead one group said, “Your turn to lift,” and the other snapped, “Lift it yourselves!”

“You’re trying to make us do all the lifting,” said the quails on one side. “No, we’re not!” said the others. “You start, and we’ll help.” But neither side would start.

So the quails squabbled, and while they were squabbling, the fowler gathered them all up in his net. Off to town he went, and he got a good price for every one.

Where this tale comes from

“The Quarrel of the Quails” is the seventh tale in Ellen C. Babbitt’s Jataka Tales (1912). In Babbitt’s telling the fowler learns to copy the leader’s call, and the whole flock is undone by one accidental step on a neighbor’s head.

The fowler himself states the lesson before it happens, telling his wife he will catch the quails the moment they start to quarrel.

Read the original: Jataka Tales (Project Gutenberg)

Best for ages 6–8 — a short fable about how working together keeps everyone safe.

A closer reading

The quarrel begins with an accident, but the failed escape comes later, when each side makes its own help conditional on the other side moving first. A dispute about hurt becomes a dispute about effort. The fowler does not have to become more skillful; he only waits for the birds to stop using a plan that already works.

Cooperation need not mean pretending nobody was hurt. The first quail can apologize, the second can describe the impact, and both can still agree to lift immediately when danger arrives. The story is most useful when it distinguishes resolving a grievance from letting that grievance block urgent shared action.

Try this with the story

Write a two-line repair conversation after the accidental step, including an apology and acknowledgment of hurt. Then create a short agreed signal for lifting the net together before returning to any unresolved disagreement.

Think about it

• How does an accidental step become an argument about who should work first?
• Why does the same escape plan stop working?
• Can the birds acknowledge hurt while still cooperating?

You may also like

• The Hawks and Their Friends — animals who save each other by working together
• The Two Stags — a wise leader and a careless one
• Momotaro, or the Story of the Son of a Peach — a leader who tells his friends never to quarrel