The Bird with Golden Droppings
Also known as Sone Ki Chidiya
- 3 minute read
- Ages 7-11
- Panchatantra Stories
A hunter found a strange bird in the forest, and what was strange about it was that its droppings turned to gold.
He caught it and put it in a cage, and it did exactly the same in the cage. Every morning there was gold on the floor of it.
The hunter was not a clever man, but he was clever enough to say nothing to anybody.
The worry
He was rich within a month, and then he began to think about it, which was where the trouble started.
He was a hunter. Hunters do not own gold. If anyone found out, the King's men would come, and they would not ask how he got it. They would take the bird and take the gold and probably take him.
He thought about this for several nights and could not sleep.
And in the end he decided the safest thing was to be the one who told the King first, and to hand the bird over himself, and to be thanked for it rather than arrested for it.
The palace
He carried the cage to the palace and gave it up, and explained what the bird did.
The King was delighted and gave orders for the bird to be kept in the finest cage in the treasury with the best food in the kitchen.
His chief minister, who had been standing quietly at the side, asked to speak.
"Your Majesty. A bird that produces gold. Consider who has told you this. A hunter with no witnesses, who happened to catch such a bird, and who happened to bring it here rather than keeping it. Have you seen it do this?"
"Not yet."
"Then I would suggest not building the treasury round it until you have."
The King thought about it and decided he had been made a fool of, and had the cage opened and the bird thrown out.
Above the courtyard
The bird went straight up.
And at the top of its climb, above the courtyard, in front of the King and the minister and the whole assembled court, it dropped one last time.
And what fell into the courtyard was gold.
It circled once and was gone over the wall, and the King stood in the yard looking at a piece of gold on the flagstones, and the hunter, who had given away the only thing he had ever owned in order to be safe, stood next to him.
Moral of the story
The bird was real, the hunter was honest and the minister was careful, and all three of them lost. Caution is not the same as wisdom.
Questions and answers
- What was strange about the bird?
Its droppings turned to gold.
- Why did the hunter decide to give it to the King?
He feared that if anyone discovered a hunter with gold, the King's men would take everything and arrest him, so he thought handing it over first was safer.
- What did the chief minister argue?
That the King had only the hunter's word for it, with no witnesses, and should not believe the story until he had seen it happen.
- What did the King do?
He decided he had been tricked and ordered the bird released.
- What happened as the bird flew away?
It dropped gold into the courtyard in front of the whole court, proving the story was true.
Word meanings
- droppings
- Solid waste passed by a bird or animal.
- treasury
- The place where a king's wealth is kept.
- witness
- Someone who has seen something happen.
- assembled
- Gathered together in one place.
Questions about The Bird with Golden Droppings
What is the moral of The Bird with Golden Droppings?
That being careful is not the same as being right. The minister's reasoning was sound and his conclusion was wrong, which is the sharpest thing in the story.
Is the minister the villain?
No, and that is what makes the tale unusual. His advice was reasonable and he had no way of knowing better. The Panchatantra is showing that good reasoning can still lose.
Why does the hunter lose too?
He gave away the bird to protect himself, and ended up with neither the bird nor the safety he was buying.
What is this story called in Hindi?
It is often known as Sone Ki Chidiya, meaning 'the golden bird'.