Friends are an important part of our life. Sometimes circumstances bring us closer to people and they become our friends; at other times we get to choose them. We should not choose someone just because they are popular, rich, or good-looking. It will be far better if they are good people who gel well with us. At the same time, we must be alert to avoid people who try to become our friends with bad intentions. There is a story in the book Hitopadesha that illustrates this.
In a forest called Champak Van, there lived two true friends, a deer, and a crow. One day, a jackal saw the deer grazing in the forest. He thought, “How would I eat this deer’s soft meat? Let me try to gain his confidence.” He approached the deer and said, “I have so far lived without any friends, but now that I have met you, I feel like I am beginning a new life with plenty of friends.” The deer accepted the jackal’s friendship without any thought.
As the sun was about to set, the deer went back with the jackal to his home under a champak tree. On the tree lived the deer’s friend, the crow. The deer introduced the jackal to him as their new friend. The crow said, “It is not proper to trust a stranger who comes without apparent reason.” The deer did not heed the crow’s wise advice and suggested that the three of them should live together happily.
The jackal started living with the two friends. He showed the deer a new field full of corn. One day, when the deer was grazing there, he was caught in a snare set up by the farmer. The jackal saw him and felt happy that when the farmer cuts the deer up, the jackal may also get some meat. The deer requested the jackal to cut the snare, but he refused, saying that it was his fasting day and he could not touch the snare made of leather.
When the deer did not return home, the crow looked for him and found him caught in the snare. Just then, the farmer came, armed with a club. The crow asked the deer to act dead.
The deer sprawled on the ground and the crow pretended to peck at his eyes. The farmer believed the deer to be dead and proceeded to remove the snare. At the right moment, the crow cawed and the deer sprang up and ran away. The angry farmer threw his club at the deer, but it missed him and, instead, killed the jackal who was hiding in a nearby bush.