The Four True Friends

After Hiranyaka the mouse freed Chitragriva's flock from the hunter's net, Swift the crow could not stop thinking about what he had seen.

“A friend with a good heart is more valuable than a hundred hiding places,” Swift thought.

He flew to Hiranyaka's burrow and called, “Will you be my friend?”

Hiranyaka remained safely inside. “Crows sometimes hunt mice,” he answered. “How can I trust you?”

Swift did not argue. He visited each day, spoke kindly from outside the burrow, and never came closer than Hiranyaka allowed. In time, the mouse understood that Swift's offer was sincere. The unlikely pair became devoted friends.

Months later, food became scarce near the city. Swift said, “My old friend Mandharaka lives beside a forest lake. There is food and clean water there. Come with me.”

Hiranyaka climbed carefully onto Swift's back, and the crow carried him over fields and trees to the lake.

Mandharaka was a thoughtful old tortoise. When he saw Swift arrive with a mouse on his back, he smiled.

“Any friend of Swift is welcome beside my lake,” he said.

The three friends spent their days talking beneath the shade of a broad tree.

One afternoon, a spotted deer burst through the bushes and stopped at the water's edge. She was breathing quickly and looking behind her.

Mandharaka slipped toward the water. Hiranyaka hid beneath a root, and Swift flew to a branch.

“Please do not be afraid,” the deer said. “My name is Chitranga. I thought I heard a hunter, and I ran without knowing where I was going.”

Swift flew above the trees and returned. “The path is clear now,” he reported.

The friends offered Chitranga water and a safe place to rest. Before long, the deer became the fourth member of their little circle.

Every evening, all four met beneath the tree. One day, Chitranga did not come.

“She is never this late,” said Mandharaka.

Swift flew over the forest until he found Chitranga caught in a hunter's net. She was frightened but unharmed.

“Stay calm,” Swift told her. “We will bring Hiranyaka.”

He hurried back, carried the mouse to the clearing, and kept watch from a branch while Hiranyaka nibbled through the cords. Chitranga stepped free just before the hunter returned. She bounded into the trees, Swift flew upward, and Hiranyaka slipped into the grass.

But Mandharaka had been worried. Unable to wait beside the lake, he had slowly followed his friends.

The hunter saw the tortoise crossing the clearing.

“The deer escaped,” he muttered, “but I can take this tortoise.”

He tied Mandharaka gently but firmly with a cord and carried him away.

From the trees, the other three friends watched in dismay.

“Mandharaka came because he cared about us,” said Chitranga. “Now we must save him.”

Hiranyaka quickly formed a plan.

Chitranga ran ahead and lay perfectly still beside the path. Swift landed near her head and pretended to examine her. When the hunter saw the deer, he thought she had collapsed.

Hoping to catch the larger animal, he placed Mandharaka on the ground and hurried toward Chitranga.

At once, Hiranyaka darted from the grass and chewed through the tortoise's cord. Mandharaka scrambled into a nearby pool. As the hunter approached, Chitranga sprang up and raced into the forest. Swift flew away, and Hiranyaka vanished beneath the roots.

The bewildered hunter found neither deer nor tortoise. He shook his head and went home with an empty net.

That evening, Swift, Hiranyaka, Mandharaka, and Chitranga gathered beneath their tree once more.

The crow could fly, the mouse could cut cords, the deer could run swiftly, and the tortoise understood patience. None could have completed every rescue alone. Together, their different strengths had become one great strength: friendship.