Reading Notes: The Cunning Crane and the Crab

In this Jatakas story the author, Rouse, depicts a scene of 2 ponds where the story will take place. One is full of fish but is small and always in peril of drying up on the hot summer days. The other is a fish's paradise. Among the banks of the latter pond lives a cunning crane that thinks he can use is pond as a trap to catch his fill of fish. I thought that the crane was very cunning to think to use his paradise as a net. He was even very patient in luring the fish into his trap. He allowed one fish of the clan to travel with him to the better pond and back to the other fish to tell of how great this place was. After that it was easy pickings for the crane. In the story he takes all the fish back to one tree to eat them and always placed the bones in one spot. To me, this is the crane wanting to set a scene for the poor fish as they about to be eaten. This is the first part in the story that the trickster shows his arrogance. This will ultimately be his demise in the end. At the end of the story the crane as become very pleased with himself and his plan but is still hungry. He has become greedy for easy fish food, but all that is left for him to eat in the pond is a crab. This crab, however, is cunning and more clever than the crane. He convinces the crane to let him ride around his neck. The crane, thinking he is so clever and is very hungry agrees without thought. Now, when the crane took the crab to the place where he eats the crab noticed the bones and such and began to cut on the cranes neck with his claws.

A cartoon of the crab on the crane from tale of Panchatantra.com

So, the crab told the crane to put him in the water and so he did. Only, when this had happened the crab cut the head off the crane and so he was dead. Like I discussed above, if the crane had not been so arrogant and created a death scene for his next prey, he may have been able to finish off the crab. I think the moral of this story is that sometimes when we are able to trick others into our own benefit, and that when it eases our lives we become lazy and greedy. At the same time others are hungry for success and if we don't take good care to watch out for others they will do to us what we had done to others. I think that his story could in its entirety stay the same with only a change of characters and still be a great read. Maybe for instance change the crane to a hawk and the fish to some other animal. The place where this animals live may be becoming overrun by other species or humans or something and the hawk, living high up the mountain would know of a great land up the mountain where people couldn't travel. He agrees to take them there but then in the end takes them to his nest to eat them.

Bibliography
The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse.Story source.