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and they were companions. One day they heard some fishermen, who passed that way, saying to one another, " Surely there must be fish in this lake. Thereupon the prudent Anágatavidhátri, fearing to be killed by the fishermen, entered the current of the river and went to another place. But Pratyutpannamati remained where he was, without fear, saying to himself, " I will take the expedient course if any danger should arise." And Yadbhavishya remained there, saying to himself, " What must be, must be." Then those fishermen came and threw a net into that lake. But the cunning Pratyutpannamati, the moment he felt himself hauled up in the net, made himself rigid, and remained as if he were dead. The fishermen, who were killing the fish, did not kill him, thinking that he had died of himself, so he jumped into the current of the river, and went off somewhere else, as fast as he could. But Yadbhavishya, like a foolish fish, bounded and wriggled in the net, so the fishermen laid hold of him and killed him.
" So I too will adopt an expedient when the time arrives; I will not go away through fear of the sea." Having said this to his wife, the țițțibha remained where he was, in his nest; and there the sea heard his boastful speech. Now, after some days, the hen-bird laid eggs, and the sea carried off the eggs with his waves, out of curiosity, saying to himself; " I should like to know what this țițțibha will do to me." And the hen-bird, weeping, said to her husband; " The very calamity which I prophesied to you, has come upon us." Then that resolute țițțibha said to his wife, " See, what I will do to that wicked sea !" So he called together all the birds, and mentioned the insult he had received, and went with them and called on the lord Garuda for protection. And the birds said to him: " Though thou art our protector, we have been insulted by the sea as if we were unprotected, in that it has carried away some of our eggs." Then Garuda was angry, and appealed to Vishnu, who dried up the sea with the weapon of fire, and made it restore the eggs.*[1]
Fable 11, Johnson's translation. Benfey has discovered it in the Mahábhárata, XII, (III, 538) V. 4889, and ff. He compares Wolff., I, 54, Knatchbull, 121, Symeon Seth, p. 20, John of Capua, c, 6, b., German translation (Ulm., 1483), E. III, a., Spanish, XV, b, Firenzuola, 47, Doni, 73, Anvár-i-Suhaili, 130, Livre des Lumièrea. 105, Cabinet dea Fées, XVII, 250. (Benfey, Vol. I, pp. 241 and 242)
- ↑ * For the story of the pair of țițțibha birds, cp Hitopadeśa, Book II, fable X, Johnson's translation, p. 65. Benfey compares Wolff, I, 84, Knatchbull 145, Symeon Seth, 28, John of Capua d., 5, a., German translation (Ulm 1483) F., VII, a., Spanish XIX, a., Firenzaola, 63, Doni, 92, Anvar-i-Suhaili, 158, Livro des Lumières, 123, Cabinet des Fées, XVII, 307, (Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 235) Benfey adduces evidence in favour of its Buddhistic origin.
