The story of louse and flea
In the palace of a certain king, there was a high comfortable bedroom. There lived an insect, white coloured she-louse (यूका/yooka in Sanskrit, பேன்/pane in Tamil, जूं/joon in Hindi) by name MandaVisarpinee in the bedspread. It spent his life by sucking the blood of the king when he slept. In the next day, in the bed another insect, a flea or a bed-bug by name AgniMukha (मत्कुणः/Matkuna in Sanskrit, மூட்டைப்பூச்சி/Moottaip-poochi in Tamil, देहिका/Dehikaa in Hindi) somehow roamed here and there, arrived there.
On seeing Agnimuksha, the distressed MandaVisarpine spoke thus: Oh! AgniMukha! Why did you come here which not suitable to you? Please, move away from this place. The AgniMukha replied thus: Oh! Madam! I am your guest. Don’t drive away me. Please note that hospitality is to be rendered to even the wicked when he visits. Moreover, I am not satisfied by sucking the blood of different people. So I want to taste the blood of this king who will recline here which will be just like nectar. If you permit me, I will taste the blood of this king which will be sweet because he often consumes different types of delicious dishes. So I wish and plan to taste this sweet and fragrant substance. It is not proper that you alone enjoy by tasting the blood of this king. On hearing the pity words of AgniMukha, MandhVisarpinee told thus: Oh the flea! I will taste the blood of this king when he will be in deep sleep. After me, you can do so as per you wish.
When these insects conversed thus, the king
arrived there and laid down on the bed to sleep. The greedy flea with a great curiosity bit
the king before he goes to sleep. Then the king who felt that bite as if stung
by a needled insect, got up from the bed immediately and ordered the servants
to check and clean the bed. Then the servants
keenly observed the bedspread and found the flea along with the louse. They killed the both of the insects.
Moral of the story:
A wise man should not entertain a stranger at any cost.
If he wishes to do so, he perishes like the insect louse by entertaining the
flea.
(This story is
taken from the titled MithraBhedhah-the 1st volume of the book
PanchaThanthram which has five volumes viz.,
MitraBedhah, MitraLaabhah, Kaakolookeeyam, Labdhapranaasam
and AparikshitaKaarakam written by Vishnu Sarma was an Indian scholar. The exact period of the
composition of the Panchatantra is uncertain, and estimates vary from 1200
BCE to 300 CE.
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