The Doves and the Hunter
Also known as Kabootar aur Shikari
- 3 minute read
- Ages 6-10
- Panchatantra Stories
A flock of doves led by a king named Chitragriva was flying over a forest when they saw grain scattered on the ground beneath a tree.
They came down.
It was a hunter's trap. The moment they landed, a net came over the whole flock, and every dove in it was caught at once.
The hunter came out from behind the tree.
Chitragriva's order
The doves panicked and beat at the net individually, and the net held, because a net is designed for exactly that.
Chitragriva called out over the noise.
"Stop. All of you, stop pulling separately. On my word, every single bird beats upward at the same moment. Not before, not after. Together."
"We cannot lift a net."
"One of us cannot," said Chitragriva. "All of us have never tried."
He counted them in.
And the entire flock, several hundred doves, beat upward on the same beat.
The net came off the ground.
Flying
They flew, carrying the whole net with them, low at first and then higher, and the hunter ran under them shouting and then kept running, following them across the forest, because a net is expensive and a flock of doves cannot fly for ever.
He was right about that. Chitragriva knew he was right about it, and he was not flying anywhere at random.
Hiranyaka
He brought the flock down at the foot of a hill, in a place he had chosen before he took off, where a mouse named Hiranyaka lived, who was his friend.
The mouse came out and saw several hundred doves lying under a net.
"Cut it," said Chitragriva.
Hiranyaka went to the nearest rope and started to gnaw, and Chitragriva stopped him.
"Not me. Start with them."
"You are the king. If I free you first you can direct the rest."
"If you free me first," said Chitragriva, "and your teeth wear out or the hunter arrives, then a king will have escaped and his flock will not. Start at the far side and work in. Do me last."
So the mouse did.
He worked all afternoon, one rope at a time, and every dove was freed before the king was, and the hunter arrived at the hill to find a cut net lying flat in the grass and nothing in it at all.
Moral of the story
Unity got the net off the ground, and the king going last is what made the flock willing to follow him in the first place.
Questions and answers
- How were the doves caught?
They landed on grain scattered as bait, and a hunter's net came over the whole flock at once.
- Why did beating at the net individually not work?
A net is designed to hold against one bird pulling. Separate efforts achieved nothing.
- What did Chitragriva order?
That every dove beat its wings upward at exactly the same moment, together, on his count.
- Why did he fly to the hill?
He had a friend there, a mouse named Hiranyaka, who could gnaw through the ropes.
- Why did the king insist on being freed last?
So that if the mouse's teeth wore out or the hunter arrived, the flock would be free rather than only the king.
Word meanings
- flock
- A group of birds together.
- bait
- Food put out to attract and trap an animal.
- gnaw
- To bite at something repeatedly.
- unity
- Being joined together and acting as one.
Questions about The Doves and the Hunter
What is the moral of The Doves and the Hunter?
That unity is strength, and that a leader who takes the risk last is the reason unity is possible at all.
Is the mouse Hiranyaka the same as in The Four Friends?
Yes. This story is how that friendship begins, and The Four Friends continues it. Both are from the second book of the Panchatantra.
Why is the king freed last?
His reasoning is practical rather than noble: if the rescue fails halfway, it is better that the flock is free than the king.
Which book of the Panchatantra is this?
Mitra Samprapti, the book about winning friends. It is the opening story of that book.