Birds of a feather fall together…

One day a saint was walking along a forest. As he was walking he saw a hunter running past him. As the hunter was looking up towards the sky and running, he did not see the holy man and would have banged into him. But the saint caught the hunter and brought his speeding toes to a halt. 

“Why are you running so fast?” asked the saint to the hunter. The hunter did not seem in a mood to answer the saint and yelled at the saint to move and give way. By now the saint was also looking up into the sky, curious to know what made the hunter drop his bows and run. He saw two birds labouring with the net, that, until a few minutes back, belonged to the hunter. 

The saint chuckled and told the hunter to give up his chase as the birds were flying high and it was common sense that a man running on the ground will never be able to catch up with flying birds.

Hearing the saint’s words the hunter stopped dead in his track. He sharply turned around and remained silent for a moment. It was now the turn of the hunter to chuckle.

The holy man was astonished, but said nothing. The hunter signalled the saint to follow him and started walking swiftly in the direction of the birds. The saint gathered speed to keep pace with the hunter.

“Oh holy man”, he addressed the saint. “Looking at you I thought you would know the happenings of the world. But you seem to be naïve and innocent” said the hunter much to the amusement of the saint. 

The hunter told the saint that the birds were from the same breed and hence would soon start fighting with each other and the weight of the net would eventually pull them down. Much to the surprise of the sage, the net started descending in a while and the hunter pounced upon his catch in a jiffy.

As the hunter started walking towards his hut, the saint followed him. “How did you know that the birds would fall?” he asked the hunter.They are birds from the same flock and therefore there will be argument between them which will turn into a fight. When birds from the same feather fight, they fall said the hunter to the saint. 

The saint thanked the hunter profusely and headed towards Hastinapura where trouble was brewing between the Pandavas and Kauravas!