Sooner or later, the class shows.

Sooner or later, the class shows.

A story again from Vishnu Sharma's Panchatantram

A fox named Chandarava lived in an isolated jungle. The area was very arid and he could find no food or water to keep his body and soul together. He strayed into a nearby town..

The Lords of the town, the stray dogs, did not miss even a second to jump at him with huge howls and the fox was on the run for his life. He reached a weaver's house. There, a huge drum of blue dye was kept ready for colouring some clothes. 

To hide from his city cousins the fox jumped into the drum. The bloodthirsty cousins (cousins are always so) were persistent. They were going round the drum expecting the fox to emerge at any moment. 

Yes, emerge he did, but as a different being. Coloured all over uninterruptedly in aquamarine blue, he looked like a being which was never created by God any time before. Seeing this apparition, it was now the turn of the stray dogs to flee. 

The fox dismissed them with disdain. He was clever enough to divine that there was something special in him now. He tried to see his form reflected in still waters and ensured that his appearance was something really special. 

In his new avatar, christening himself as Kakudruma the great, he made a ceremonial entry into the forest. The king lion was holding court there with other animals and chamchas. Kakudruma the great walked into the conclave with a flourish and declared,

" Ye silly earthly animals. God has understood how useless and inefficient you all are and has sent me as his special representative to take over the reins of this forest kingdom. Better you obey the God's order and also do my bidding. Destruction on you if you demur" . 

The curious shape of Kakudruma had already drained all the courage out of the animals in the forest with the regal lion in the lead. They gave way to the new being to be appointed as king. 

Gracefully, Kakudruma appointed the lion as the prime minister. The role of the tiger was to guard the harem. The leopard had the honour of carrying the suitcase of the King. With great alacrity Kakudruma avoided the presence of any fox in his retinue. He knew very well that the danger to one's welfare always comes from one's own kin. All others were assigned posts according to their capacity as deemed fit by Kakudruma the great. 

Every day the animals would kill their prey and bring the flesh to the king. The king would eat to his heart's content and then distribute whatever was remaining to the cabinet colleagues and employees according to their status. 

The entire arrangement was to the greatest satisfaction of the blue fox, Kakudruma the great.

But time plays wily tricks. The fox was getting more and more lovelorn without the company of the females of his own species. He could not tell this openly because then his identity would be betrayed and the consequences would not be pleasant. He was keeping a stoic silence and bearing the pangs of love with all the manly valour and stoicism. 

But on a night of full moon, from far away in the woods, he did hear the howls of males and females of his own clan. He could no longer resist the love-calls of females of his own species. Unable to control himself he let out a huge foxy howl..

Lion the prime minister heard it first, as also the other members of the cabinet and the group of menials were not far behind in hearing the same . They huddled together in an emergency meeting to study and evaluate the meaning of the royal howl. The inevitable conclusion they could reach was that Kakudruma the great had betrayed himself and revealed his foxy identity . 

The cabinet was quick in execution of their action plan. With the lion, leopard and the tiger striking in unison, nothing worth the mention was left of Kakudruma the Great, the blue fox.

Sooner or later, the class shows.