Beauty and Gray [A Wise Leader] Once upon a time, there was a deer who was the leader of a herd of a thousand. He had two sons. One was very slim and tall, with bright alert eyes, and smooth reddish fur. He was called Beauty. The other was gray in color, also slim and tall, and was called Gray. One day, after they were fully grown, their father called Beauty and Gray to him. He said, I am now very old, so I can not do all that is necessary to look after this big herd of deer. I want you, my two grown up children, to be the leaders, while I retire from looking after the mall the time. We will divide the herd, and each of you will lead 500 deer. So it was done. In India, when the harvest time comes, the deer are always in danger. The rice is at its tallest, and the deer cannot help but go into the paddies and eat it. To avoid the destruction of their crops, the human beings dig pits,set sharp stakes in the ground, and build stone traps allto capture and kill the deer. Knowing this was the season, the wise old deer called the two new leaders to him. He advised them to take the herds up into the mountain forest, far from the dangerous farm lands. This was how he had always saved the deer from being wounded or killed. Then he would bring them back to the low lands after the harvest was over. |