The Quarrelsome Quails
Also known as Sammodamana Jataka
- 3 minute read
- Ages 6-10
- Jataka Tales
A flock of quails lived in a field, and a fowler used to come and catch them.
He had a good method. He would imitate a quail's call until they gathered, then throw a net over the whole group and take them all.
He did this again and again and the flock was getting smaller.
The plan
Their leader called them together.
"He catches us because we panic and pull in different directions," he said. "A net cannot be lifted by one bird. It can be lifted by all of us at the same time. So the next time the net comes down, every one of you puts your head through a hole and on my word we all fly straight up together."
They practised it.
And the next time the fowler threw his net, the whole flock rose as one and carried it up and over the field and dropped it on a thorn bush, and went out from under it while he was still trying to get it free.
They did it three times. The fowler went home with nothing three times and his wife asked him what he was doing all day.
The fowler's answer
"They are united," he told her. "That is the whole of it. As long as they lift together I cannot take them."
He thought about it for a while.
"But they will not stay united. Birds never do. I will keep going, and one day two of them will fall out over something, and on that day I will take the lot."
The argument
He was right, and it took less time than he expected.
One morning a quail landing in the field stepped on another one's head by accident.
"Watch where you are going."
"It was an accident."
"You do that every day."
And within a minute the two of them were shouting, and then it was about who worked hardest at lifting the net, and then it was about who did nothing at all and let the others carry them, and by the end of the week the whole flock was divided into two sides that were not speaking.
The net
The fowler came the following morning and called them, and threw the net.
And half the flock pulled one way and half pulled the other, and the net did not move at all.
He rolled it up with all of them in it and carried it home over his shoulder.
The leader had seen it coming from the moment the argument started, and had taken the birds who would still listen to him out of that field two days earlier.
Moral of the story
It was never the net. They had already beaten the net three times. What beat them was an argument about who had been pulling hardest.
Questions and answers
- How did the fowler catch the quails?
He imitated a quail's call to gather them, then threw a net over the whole group.
- What plan did the leader make?
That every bird put its head through a hole in the net and, on his word, they all fly straight up together.
- Did the plan work?
Yes, three times. They carried the net away and dropped it on a thorn bush.
- What did the fowler predict?
That the quails would eventually quarrel, and that he would catch them on that day.
- What started the argument?
One quail accidentally stepped on another's head while landing.
Word meanings
- fowler
- A person who catches birds.
- imitate
- To copy something, such as a sound.
- united
- Joined together and acting as one.
- divided
- Split into groups that disagree.
Questions about The Quarrelsome Quails
What is the moral of The Quarrelsome Quails?
That unity is the only reason a weak group survives a strong enemy, and that it is usually lost over something trivial rather than something serious.
Why does the fowler wait rather than change his method?
Because his method works perfectly. The only thing defeating it is cooperation, and he correctly predicts that cooperation will break down.
Does the leader escape?
Yes. He had seen it coming and led the birds who would still listen out of the field two days before.
What is this tale called in the original?
The Sammodamana Jataka, meaning 'living in harmony'.