Read the previous part here…
It is heard that the pigeon not only welcomed his enemy who sought shelter, but also offered his own flesh as food.
Once Kroorāksha was done speaking, AriMardana turned to Deeptāksha and said “And what do you think about the situation? What should we do with that crow?”
Deeptāksha replied “I don’t think that we should kill the crow. Sometimes a person who does not have our best interests in mind, ends up doing something that is beneficial for us. It has been said…
या ममोद्विजते नित्यं सा ममाद्यावगूहते ।
प्रिय-कारक भद्रं ते यन् ममास्ति हरस्व तत् ॥ १८६ ॥
yā mamodvijate nityaṃ sā mamādyāvagūhate |
priya-kāraka bhadraṃ te yan mamāsti harasva tat || 186 ||
She who always resents me is embracing me today. Oh do-gooder! May you prosper always…go ahead and steal whatever is mine.
हर्तव्यं ते न पश्यामि हर्तव्यं चेद् भविष्यति ।
पुनर् अप्य् आगमिष्यामि यदीयं नावगूहते ॥ १८७ ॥
hartavyaṃ te na paśyāmi hartavyaṃ ced bhaviṣyati |
punar apy āgamiṣyāmi yadīyaṃ nāvagūhate || 187 ||
The thief said – I don’t see anything here that can be stolen. If anything worth stealing turns up, and also if she does not embrace you again, then I will come again sometime.
AriMardana asked Deeptāksha “Who does not embrace whom? Who is this thief? Tell me more…”
Deeptāksha replied…
चौरवृद्धवणिक्कथा
The story of the thief and the old merchant
In a city not so far away from here, lived an old merchant named Kāmātura (the one who is restless in passion). When his wife passed away, Kāmātura, true to his name, paid a poor merchant a handsome sum of money and married his young daughter.
The young girl however, wasn’t happy with this marriage and stayed aloof most of the time. She wasn’t even able to look at the old merchant without feeling disgusted. It has rightly been said…
श्वेतं पदं शिरसि यत् तु शिरोरुहाणां स्थानं परं परिभवस्य तद् एव पुंसाम् ।
आरोपितास्थि-शकलं परिहृत्य यान्ति चाण्डाल-कूपम् इव दूरतरं तरुण्यः ॥ १८८ ॥
śvetaṃ padaṃ śirasi yat tu śiroruhāṇāṃ sthānaṃ paraṃ paribhavasya tad eva puṃsām |
āropitāsthi-śakalaṃ parihṛtya yānti cāṇḍāla-kūpam iva dūrataraṃ taruṇyaḥ || 188 ||
A man starts to get humiliated the moment the first white hairs appear on his head. Just like people, even though thirsty, avoid going near a well where white bones have been strewn around (fearing for the devil), even young girls avoid men who have white hair on their heads.
And also…
गात्रं सङ्कुचितं गतिर् विगलिता दन्ताश् च नाशङ्गता दृष्टिर् भ्राम्यति रूपम् अप्य् उपहतं वक्त्रं च लालायते ।
वाक्यं नैव करोति बान्धव-जनः पत्नी न शुश्रूषते धिक् कष्टं जरयाभिभूत-पूरुषं पुत्रो ऽप्य् अवज्ञायते ॥ १८९ ॥
gātraṃ saṅkucitaṃ gatir vigalitā dantāś ca nāśaṅgatā dṛṣṭir bhrāmyati rūpam apy upahataṃ vaktraṃ ca lālāyate |
vākyaṃ naiva karoti bāndhava-janaḥ patnī na śuśrūṣate dhik kaṣṭaṃ jarayābhibhūta-pūruṣaṃ putro ‘py avajñāyate || 189 ||
They become weak physically, they stumble when they walk, they lose their teeth, their vision gets blurred, their mouths drool…relatives do not speak to them and their wives do not take care of them. What a pity! Even the son ignores the words of a man who becomes old.
One night, the young girl was sleeping on their bed, with her face turned the other way towards the door, since the old man was sleeping next to her too. His snoring was keeping her awake, and she was cursing her fate and wondering when he would die so that her problems would come to an end.
Suddenly, a thief entered the room. Seeing him, she got frightened, and turned towards her husband and embraced him tightly. Taken by surprise, Kāmātura felt a wave of sensations throughout his body, so pleasurable that he smiled and thought “What happened? Why is she embracing me all of a sudden?”
He opened his eyes and looked around, and saw the thief crouching in the far end of the room. “Ah, she has embraced me since she got afraid of this thief…well, this thief has done me a lot of good by coming to my house!”
And so he looked at the thief and said…
या ममोद्विजते नित्यं सा ममाद्यावगूहते ।
प्रिय-कारक भद्रं ते यन् ममास्ति हरस्व तत् ॥ १८६ ॥
She who always resents me is embracing me today. Oh do-gooder! May you prosper always…go ahead and steal whatever is mine.
The thief replied…
हर्तव्यं ते न पश्यामि हर्तव्यं चेद् भविष्यति ।
पुनर् अप्य् आगमिष्यामि यदीयं नावगूहते ॥ १८७ ॥
The thief said – I don’t see anything here that can be stolen. If anything worth stealing turns up, and also if she does not embrace you again, then I will come again sometime.
“One can wish good for even a thief who comes to steal in your house, if he inadvertently ends up doing something beneficial for you”, said Deeptāksha. “And here we have a person who has come willingly to us for help, and asked us for shelter. Why shouldn’t we help him? His tribe are angry with him, they think of him as a traitor, and so this will work to our own advantage. He will disclose all their secrets to us. And so, I don’t think that he should be killed”, concluded Deeptāksha.
AriMardana now looked at VakraNāsa and said “Tell me, oh wise one, what should we do in this situation?”
VakraNāsa replied…
to be continued…