(Stories from Panchatantra
as narrated by Grandpa and edited by Bibha Mukherjee)
Once a merchant was leading a caravan of
heavily-laden camels through a jungle when one of them, overcome by fatigue, collapsed.
The farmer decided to leave the camel in the jungle and go on his way. Later, when the
camel recovered his strength, he realized that he was alone in the strange jungle. But
fortunately there was plenty of grass and he survived. Then one day the king of the
jungle, a lion, arrived along with his three associates - a leopard, a fox, and a crow.
The king wondered "What the camel is doing in the jungle!"
Then he came near the camel and asked "How did you end up in this hostile
jungle?"
The camel explained what happened with his tearful eyes.
The lion took pity and said, "You have nothing to fear now. Henceforth, you are
under my protection and stay with us. The camel was relieved and began to live happily in
the jungle.
But one day the lion was wounded in a combat with an elephant. He retired to his cave
and stayed there for several days. His associates came to offer their sympathy and the
lion felt sorry for them as they were also starving along with him. The associates tried
to catch a prey for the lion but failed miserably. The camel had no problem as he lived on
grass while others were starving. Then the fox came up with a plan. He secretly went to
the lion and suggested that the camel can be sacrificed due to the emergency situation.
The lion got furious, "I can never kill an animal who is under my
protection."
The fox humbly said, "But Lord, you have provided us food all the time if any one
of us voluntarily offered himself to save your life, I hope you won’t mind!" The
hungry lion did not object to that and agreed to take the offer.
The fox went back to his companions and said, "Friends, our king is dying of
starvation. Let us go and beg him to eat one of us. It is the least we can do for such a
noble soul." So they went to the king. 
When the crow came forward and offered his life. The fox interrupted, "You are a
small creature, the master’s hunger will hardly be appeased by eating you. May I
humbly offer my life to satisfy my master’s hunger." The leopard immediately
stepped forward and said, "You are no bigger than the crow, it is me whom our master
should eat."
The foolish camel thought, "Everyone has offered to lay down their lives for the
king, but he has not hurt any one. It is now my turn to offer myself. So he stepped
forward and said, "Stand aside friend leopard, the king and you have close family
ties. It is me whom master must eat."
An ominous silence greeted the camel’s offer, then the king gladly said, " I
accept your offer, O noble camel." And in no time he was killed by the three rogues,
the false friends.
Moral: One should be careful in choosing friends
