0038. The Woodpecker and the Lion

From More Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt with illustrations by Ellsworth Young, online at: Internet Archive.

Notes. You will notice that this story is very similar to the story of The Lion and the Crane.

Summary: The woodpecker helps a lion, but cautiously.

Read the story below:

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THE WOODPECKER AND THE LION

(Ellsworth Young)

One day while a Lion was eating his dinner a bone stuck in his throat. It hurt so that he could not finish his dinner. He walked up and down, up and down, roaring with pain.

A Woodpecker lit on a branch of a tree near-by, and hearing the Lion, she said, "Friend, what ails you?"

The Lion told the Woodpecker what the matter was, and the Woodpecker said: "I would take the bone out of your throat, friend, but I do not dare to put my head into your mouth, for fear I might never get it out again. I am afraid you might eat me."

"O Woodpecker, do not be afraid," the Lion said. "I will not eat you. Save my life if you can!"

"I will see what I can do for you," said the Woodpecker. "Open your mouth wide."

The Lion did as he was told, but the Woodpecker said to himself: "Who knows what this Lion will do? I think I will be careful."

So the Woodpecker put a stick between the Lion's upper and lower jaws so that he could not shut his mouth.

Then the Woodpecker hopped into the Lion's mouth and hit the end of the bone with his beak. The second time he hit it, the bone fell out.

The Woodpecker hopped out of the Lion's mouth, and hit the stick so that it too fell out. Then the Lion could shut his mouth.

At once the Lion felt very much better, but not one word of thanks did he say to the Woodpecker.

One day later in the summer, the Woodpecker said to the Lion, "I want you to do something for me."

"Do something for you?" said the Lion. "You mean you want me to do something more for you. I have already done a great deal for you. You cannot expect me to do anything more for you. Do not forget that once I had you in my mouth, and I let you go. That is all that you can ever expect me to do for you."

The Woodpecker said no more, but he kept away from the Lion from that day on.

0034. The Lion and the Crane

From Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, with illustrations by John D. Batten, online at: Project Gutenberg.

Notes. In a lengthy discussion which you can find at the end of the book, Jacobs discusses the parallels between this story and the Aesopic fable of the wolf and the stork (crane, heron), and he argues that the story originated in India, and was later adopted into the Aesopic tradition in ancient Greece and Rome. You can also compare this jataka with the jataka of the lion and the woodpecker.

Summary: The Buddha tells the story of his previous incarnation as a crane who, cautiously, offered help to a lion. (This version includes the frametale in which the Buddha himself tells the story and identifies the past incarnations.)

Read the story below:

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THE LION AND THE CRANE

(John D. Batten)

The Bodhisatta was at one time born in the region of Himavanta as a white crane; now Brahmadatta was at that time reigning in Benares.

Now it chanced that as a lion was eating meat a bone stuck in his throat. The throat became swollen, he could not take food, his suffering was terrible.

The crane seeing him, as he was perched on a tree looking for food, asked, "What ails thee, friend?"

He told him why.

"I could free thee from that bone, friend, but dare not enter thy mouth for fear thou mightest eat me."

"Don't be afraid, friend, I'll not eat thee; only save my life."

"Very well," says he, and caused him to lie down on his left side.

But thinking to himself, "Who knows what this fellow will do," he placed a small stick upright between his two jaws that he could not close his mouth, and inserting his head inside his mouth struck one end of the bone with his beak. Whereupon the bone dropped and fell out.

As soon as he had caused the bone to fall, he got out of the lion's mouth, striking the stick with his beak so that it fell out, and then settled on a branch.

The lion gets well, and one day was eating a buffalo he had killed.

The crane thinking "I will sound him," settled on a branch just over him, and in conversation spoke this first verse:

A service have we done thee
To the best of our ability,
King of the Beasts! Your Majesty!
What return shall we get from thee?

In reply the Lion spoke the second verse:

As I feed on blood,
And always hunt for prey,
'Tis much that thou art still alive
Having once been between my teeth.

Then in reply the crane said the two other verses:

Ungrateful, doing no good,
Not doing as he would be done by,
In him there is no gratitude,
To serve him is useless.

His friendship is not won
By the clearest good deed.
Better softly withdraw from him,
Neither envying nor abusing.

And having thus spoken the crane flew away.

And when the great Teacher, Gautama the Buddha, told this tale, he used to add: "Now at that time the lion was Devadatta the Traitor, but the white crane was I myself."