Story from Panchtantra: Ranga Siyaar (Dyed Fox)

Once upon a time, there was a fox standing under an old tree in the forest. The whole tree fell with a strong gust of wind. The tree hit the fox and he was badly injured. He somehow crawled to his den.

Several days later he came out of the den. He was really hungry. The body was weakened but then he saw a rabbit. He rushed to grab the rabbit. The rabbit ran away and the fox started panting. Where was the life left in his body? Then he tried to chase a quail. Here too he failed. He did not even dare to chase the deer.

He stood thinking. He was not able to hunt. Understanding that it is his time to starve. What to do? He started walking here and there but no dead animal was found anywhere. Walking around, he came to a settlement. He thought maybe a hen or its chick would be easy to catch. So, he started walking in the streets here and there.

But the street dogs barked and followed him. The fox had to flee for his life. He again tried to enter the streets to catch prey but the dogs were familiar with the streets of the town. The pack of dogs kept following the fox, and the strength of the fox's weak body was running out.

The fox had to run far into the town and after some time reached the colony of painters. There he saw a big drum in front of a house. He jumped into the same drum to save his life. In the drum, Painter had put a color solution to dye the clothes.

The herd of dogs barked. The fox stopped breathing and remained immersed in the color. He would bring out his snout just to breathe. When he was convinced that there was no danger, he came out. He was drenched in paint. Arriving in the forest, he saw that the whole color of his body had turned Blue. In that drum, Painter had put a blue solution. Any wild animal that saw its blue color would be frightened. Seeing them trembling with fear, a plan came to the evil mind of the dyed fox.

The frightened fox called out to the frightened creatures, 'Brothers, don't run away, listen to me.' Listening to him, all the running animals calmed down.

The dyed fox took advantage of their calmness and said, 'Look, look at my color. Is there such a color of any animal on the earth? No, Try to understand the meaning behind this. God has sent me with this special color to help you. You can call all the animals so I can speak the message of God.'

His words had a profound effect on everyone. They went and called all the other animals in the forest. When everyone came, The dyed fox climbed on a high stone and said, 'Wild creatures, The ultimate creator of this universe made me a unique creature with this supernatural color with his own hands and said that there is no ruler of animals in the world. You have to go and become the king of animals and do their welfare. Your name will be Emperor Ranga. The wild animals of the three worlds will be your people. You are no longer orphans. Be fearless under my umbrella.'

All the animals were similarly bewildered by the strange color of the fox. His words worked magic. The upper breath of the lion, tiger, and leopard also remained up and the lower breath remained down. No one dared to interrupt him. As soon as he saw, all the animals began to return to his feet and said in one voice, 'O messenger of Brahma, the best of creatures, Ranga, we accept you as our emperor. We will be very happy to do God's will.'

An old elephant said, 'O Emperor, now tell us what is our duty?'

Ranga raised his paw-like an emperor and said, 'You should serve and respect your emperor a lot. He should have no problem. There should be a royal arrangement of food and drink.'

The lion bowed his head and said, 'Sir, this is what will happen. Our life will be blessed by serving you.'

Simply, the emperor Ranga became a royal king of the jungle. He began to live with majestic dignity.

Many foxes were engaged in his service, the bear was swinging a fan. The animal that the fox wished to eat would be sacrificed.

When the fox went for a walk, the elephant would pick up its trunk and roar like a bugle. The two lions would be his commando bodyguards on either side of him.

Rose also seems to be the court of Ranga. Ranga had done a trick that as soon as he became the emperor, he had chased the foxes out of the forest by issuing a royal order. He was in danger of being identified by the creatures of his species.

One day Emperor Ranga was resting in his royal lair after eating and drinking a lot and woke up seeing the light outside. When he came out, the moonlit night was full. In the nearby forest, groups of foxes were howling. As soon as he heard their voice, Ranga lost his mind. The innate nature inside him hit hard and he also started howling by raising his face towards the moon and mingling in the tone of the other foxes.

The lion and the tiger saw him howling. Shocked, the tiger said, 'Hey, this is a fox. He betrayed us and became the emperor. Kill the lowly one.'

The lion and the tiger clung to him and as soon as they saw him, they bit him.

What moral do you guys get from this story?

Tell me in the comments.