The frog in the well

This is a story that all of us have heard sometime or other in life. But the story's ending has always been left to the imagination of the listener. Here is one such imagination that made the ending a little different.

Once there lived a frog by the Jumpy, inside a well. He was alone and often felt lonely. Therefore he prayed to God for companionship. He wanted another frog that would live with him and share his joy and sorrow. One day a huge wave from a nearby ocean swept across the well. The huge wave, in its wake, deposited a frog in the well. 

Jumpy was so happy that he began talking to the new entrant at once. He wanted to know everything about the new frog and thanked God a hundred times for answering his prayers. Jumpy’s curiosity knew no bounds. “Where do you come from?” he asked the frog. The frog calmly replied that he is from the ocean. Now Jumpy wanted to know what ocean meant. The frog from the ocean was not perturbed. He told Jumpy that it was a similar water body like the well but much bigger. Jumpy did not know what “bigger” meant.

Jumpy was a lonely frog living in the well...

He jumped half way across the well asked the other frog if the ocean was as big as half the well. The ocean frog replied, “No, even bigger”. Now Jumpy jumped to three quarter of the well and asked the ocean frog if the ocean was as big as that. The frog replied that the ocean was much bigger.

Jumpy then began wondering if the ocean frog was lying and began thinking that the frog wanted to show-off and was telling lies or exaggerating facts. But finally Jumpy decided to the full length of the well and asked the ocean frog if the ocean was as big as the well.

The ocean frog realised his mistake and told Jumpy that the ocean was indeed as big as the well. Now Jumpy was satisfied and remained silent for some time.  But everyday thereafter Jumpy spent asking questions and the ocean frog would calmly agree to whatever Jumpy said. Then came a day when the ocean frog started feeling lonely and prayed to God to for companionship. In a few days a huge tide swept across the well and the ocean frog asked Jumpy to get on to the tide, but Jumpy refused. He had not seen so much water in all his life. But the ocean frog, in one leap got on the tide and went back to the ocean.

Jumpy became lonely again!

The greatest philanthropist

Before I begin the story let us take a deviation to find out the history of the word  ‘philanthropy’. While this word etymologically means “love of humanity”, it has come to indicate the giving or volunteering nature of a person. This word was first used in the adjective form by Aeschylus in Prometheus Bound (“philanthropos tropos”).
 

The world has seen many philanthropists over the years. Some have been recognised duly for their philanthropy while some others have been the unsung heroes. Here is a story of one such philanthropist who probably ended up on the wrong side of the great epic Mahabharata. 

Karna, the greatest philanthropist

One day the great warrior Arjuna went to Lord Krishna and asked him who,in his perspective, was the greatest philanthropist. The ever smiling Lord replied, “In my opinion Karna is the greatest philanthropist I have ever known”. Arjuna was disappointed as he had expected to hear his name from the lord. Then Arjuna dared Lord Krishna to prove what he had just said. 

The next day Lord Krishna called both Arjuna and Karna to a ground nearby. When the two arrived there, Krishna showed them both two mountains made of precious gems and gold. He then told both the warriors to donate the riches to people around. But the condition that he laid was that the man who did so before the sun set will be declared the greatest philanthropist. After setting the two men on the task the Lord took leave. Arjuna immediately started working on the task set. He gave hands full of the precious gems and metal to passersby. The more he gave away the more the mountain grew. Arjuna was growing tired while the mountain was growing taller. 

Meanwhile Karna was nonchalant about the whole task and dozed off to sleep. Arjuna wondered what Karna would do. When the sun was about to set Lord Krishna appeared on the scene. Instantly he knew what Karna was going to do. Just when the sun was setting, Karna called out to one of the passers-by and told him to take the mountain for himself and do good to as many poor people as he could with it. The man thanked Karna for the opportunity that he had provided and went away. Arjuna accepted his defeat.

 

The best in archery, Arjuna lost to Karna in philanthropy!

Lord Krishna then asked Karna why he had not even touched the mountain to which Karna replied, “Lord, how can I touch what is not mine?” 

The all-pervasive Lord addressed Arjuna. He said, “Arjuna, philanthropy is an attitude. You can develop it and master it over a period of time. If you have decided to give something away, you must not touch it. Touching it creates a bond between you and the object and then to give it away becomes difficult” he said.

The snake that learnt to hiss

While the dictionary meaning of metamorphosis goes something like 'the process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct stages',  or perhaps in a more abstract sense it means the change of form of a person into a completely different one either by natural or supernatural means.
 

There is also a figurative meaning to this word. It denotes the maturity in character of a person due largely to the experiences he/she undergoes. Every experience changes us and then we are not the same person again.

Here is the story of the snake that meets a saints and how his character changes after this fateful meeting.

There was once a snake named Sarpa. He was a dangerous snake and people were very scared of him. Nobody dared come anywhere near him. The very minute that he crawled out the hole that he lived in near a banyan tree, people would run for their lives in fear. Days rolled into months and months rolled into years. One day a sage walked past the Sarpa’s residence boldly. Sarpa was surprised. He sprang his head out in order to scare the sage. The sage ignored Sarpa’s threats and walked ahead.

Sarpa was astonished. He quietly walked ahead of the sage and asked, “Are you not scared of me?” to which the sage calmly said “No, why should I be scared of you?” This answer was not what Sarpa had expected to hear. He began chatting with the sage and soon understood that biting people or scaring them is not the best way to live. He became a calm snake and wanted to be like the sage, good and kind hearted.

After a few days the people living nearby came to know that Sarpa was no longer harmful and were not scared of him. Soon they became brave and some of them wanted to take revenge on Sarpa for his previous wrong doings. They started throwing stones on Sarpa. In sometime Sarpa became wounded badly and weak. He could not even move. It was at this time that the sage came back to the village where Sarpa lived. The sage was shocked to see Sarpa in this condition. Sarpa narrated what had happened and then the sage at once knew that Sarpa had taken his advice verbatim. The sage then told Sarpa that his advice was that Sarpa should not bite or scare others. He had not told him not to hiss for his own self-protection.

Sarpa heard the sage’s words carefully and understood his words in the correct sense. He started hissing at people and eventually the people of the village learnt to leave him alone and mind their business. The sage visited the village sometime later and told the people that he had learnt a wonderful lesson from the happenings. The people listening to the sage were taken aback. They thought the sage had taught Sarpa a lesson initially and then he had taught the villagers a lesson by teaching Sarpa to hiss at them.

They did not expect the sage to say that he had learnt a lesson. Curious, they listened to the sage as they continued. The sage told them that Sarpa had listened to his advice, but he himself did not think of Sarpa’s good while advising him. The sage admitted that he had started giving advice to people considering the good of all concerned. After this incidence Sarpa, the villagers and the sage were all changed people and became more sensitive and reformed!

Vidur - The wise

 

One day a strange visitor entered the kingdom of Raja Veerabhadra Pandu. He had a unique challenge that he placed in front of the king. The challenge goes thus:

He drew a line on the sands of the palace grounds and asked the king if there was anyone in his kingdom who could make the line shorter without rubbing it or placing anything on any part of the line?

Many a learned man tried his hand at solving the challenge. But they could not think of making a line shorter without rubbing off a portion of it. Finally the almost triumphant traveller gave an ultimatum to the King telling him that time was running out and he was willing to give one more chance. But if the person fails then the entire kingdom would be his and he would take over as the Raja of Pandu’s Kingdom. The Raja was shocked on hearing this as he had thought it to be a harmless challenge of a clever traveller.

He was in fact hoping to pay him 100 gold coins for his intelligence, but what the traveller demanded was, by any standards, unreasonable. While these thoughts were going on in his mind, Vidur, who was all but 10 years’ of age, boldly approached the traveller. He told him that he would make his line shorter without rubbing it.

He took a piece of log and drew a line longer than the one drawn by the traveller. He then asked the traveller, which of the lines was shorter. The traveller replied that his line was shorter. Vidur told the traveller nonchalantly that his line had been made shorter and walked away to join his mother.

A line longer than the original line, makes the original line look shorter!

Accepting his defeat, the traveller walked away. The king told the people of his nation that the whole episode carried a message. You can only make someone look smaller by becoming bigger yourself and not by belittling them.