Yudhishtira asked Bheesma who was in the bed of arrows 'Grandsire, what should a King do when He is surrounded in all sided with enemies?'
To him Bheeshma said 'In times of distress when a King is surrounded in all sided with enemies, he should ally himself with one enemy and defeat others. After the distressful situation is over he should fulfill again treat the one enemy he had allied with once again as his enemy'.
He continued 'In a forest there lived an intelligent rat in a hole in Earth. Up over the hole lived a cat. Once a hunter had spread his net to catch some animal for food. This cat accidentally fell into the trap'. Seeing this the rat was foraging for his food without any fear.
Just then all of a sudden the rat found itself to be surrounded with enemies in all sides. In one direction there was mangoose and in another direction there was a jackal. In the tree top there was a crow.
The Jackal, Mangoose and Crow were neither Natural enemies or friends. But both of them were enemies to the rat. If it were so the intelligent rat would have thought out plans to bring enmity among themselves and escape from them.
Since they were not enemies among themselves that course of action was not possible.
It cannot outrun a jackal or a mangoose in the forest floor. It cannot go into its hole to escape from them. Because Mangoose would enter its hole and hunt it down alongwith all its relatives in the hole.
It cannot climb a tree to escape its predators, since the crow would hunt it down.
So it found itself in a situation that it had been cornered in all the directions.
It then said to itself 'a wise man will find a way to save himself even in a dire situation using his wit and intelligence'.
So thinking like that it said to itself 'All the four viz jackal, mangoose, crow and cat are my enemies. They are my predators and I am their prey. But in this situation cat could help me escape death because of all the four predators this cat is now tied and it will be death to him when the hunter returns.
Thinking like this it approached the cat as proposed a treaty to it saying to the cat 'both our lives are in danger. I am in immediate danger from jackal, mangoose and the crow. Yours is also a difficult situation as when the hunter returns he would kill it'.
'If you save my life now I will save your life from the hunter'. The cat accepted this offer and said to the rat to come inside the trap and lie with it. When the rat went inside the trap and lay beside the cat the mangoose, jackal and crow got confused and they went their way.
Now the rat also came out of the fold of the cat and was roaming nearby the cat's place.
The cat cried to it several times to think how it had saved the life of the rat and how ungrateful it is behaving with it.
The rat said to it that it would definitely honor its word but there was a time to do that.
The cat was pressing for the early release but the rat was insisting on waiting for an opportune time.
The cat said that it did not wait for an opportune time to save the life of the rat and accused rat of being selfish. The rat did not bother these words and said that it would surely save the cat at an opportune time.
like this some time passed on and the cat saw the hunter coming out from a long distance.
As it saw the hunter it became agitated as it saw the Yama or the Lord of Death.
Now the rat started to work on the release of the cat rather slowly one string at a time till the hunter got so close to them.
Just as the hunter was about to enter the vicinity of the cat the rat had cut down the last string that was binding the cat. The rat deliberately was slow in cutting the strings of the trap because if it had released earlier then the cat would have eaten it.
Upon release the cat went its own dwelling place to save his life and the rat escaped to his place of hiding.
The hunter saw no animal caught in the trap and on top of it the trap was cut to pieces rendering it useless. The hunter had seen an animal caught in the trap and it had been released and on top of it his trap was bitten into thousand pieces by some unknown beast.
He was puzzled by it and also became afraid to be in that place and he quickly went out of that place.
After the hunter went his own way the cat came out his hiding place and addressed the rat and said that they could be friends hereafter as the rat had saved his life.
To this the rat said to the cat 'You are my predator and I am your prey. How can there be friendship among us. It is because you have not taken food for one whole night you feel hungry and therefore you think about me.
For a reason friendship is born and for a reason it left behind. We both were in dire straights a few hours back and we helped each other. Now there is no need for our friendship anymore because the danger has been lifted. So you go your way and I go my way. We both cannot be friends'.
Does this story not bring out the duties of a King in times of difficulty.
To him Bheeshma said 'In times of distress when a King is surrounded in all sided with enemies, he should ally himself with one enemy and defeat others. After the distressful situation is over he should fulfill again treat the one enemy he had allied with once again as his enemy'.
He continued 'In a forest there lived an intelligent rat in a hole in Earth. Up over the hole lived a cat. Once a hunter had spread his net to catch some animal for food. This cat accidentally fell into the trap'. Seeing this the rat was foraging for his food without any fear.
Just then all of a sudden the rat found itself to be surrounded with enemies in all sides. In one direction there was mangoose and in another direction there was a jackal. In the tree top there was a crow.
The Jackal, Mangoose and Crow were neither Natural enemies or friends. But both of them were enemies to the rat. If it were so the intelligent rat would have thought out plans to bring enmity among themselves and escape from them.
Since they were not enemies among themselves that course of action was not possible.
It cannot outrun a jackal or a mangoose in the forest floor. It cannot go into its hole to escape from them. Because Mangoose would enter its hole and hunt it down alongwith all its relatives in the hole.
It cannot climb a tree to escape its predators, since the crow would hunt it down.
So it found itself in a situation that it had been cornered in all the directions.
It then said to itself 'a wise man will find a way to save himself even in a dire situation using his wit and intelligence'.
So thinking like that it said to itself 'All the four viz jackal, mangoose, crow and cat are my enemies. They are my predators and I am their prey. But in this situation cat could help me escape death because of all the four predators this cat is now tied and it will be death to him when the hunter returns.
Thinking like this it approached the cat as proposed a treaty to it saying to the cat 'both our lives are in danger. I am in immediate danger from jackal, mangoose and the crow. Yours is also a difficult situation as when the hunter returns he would kill it'.
'If you save my life now I will save your life from the hunter'. The cat accepted this offer and said to the rat to come inside the trap and lie with it. When the rat went inside the trap and lay beside the cat the mangoose, jackal and crow got confused and they went their way.
Now the rat also came out of the fold of the cat and was roaming nearby the cat's place.
The cat cried to it several times to think how it had saved the life of the rat and how ungrateful it is behaving with it.
The rat said to it that it would definitely honor its word but there was a time to do that.
The cat was pressing for the early release but the rat was insisting on waiting for an opportune time.
The cat said that it did not wait for an opportune time to save the life of the rat and accused rat of being selfish. The rat did not bother these words and said that it would surely save the cat at an opportune time.
like this some time passed on and the cat saw the hunter coming out from a long distance.
As it saw the hunter it became agitated as it saw the Yama or the Lord of Death.
Now the rat started to work on the release of the cat rather slowly one string at a time till the hunter got so close to them.
Just as the hunter was about to enter the vicinity of the cat the rat had cut down the last string that was binding the cat. The rat deliberately was slow in cutting the strings of the trap because if it had released earlier then the cat would have eaten it.
Upon release the cat went its own dwelling place to save his life and the rat escaped to his place of hiding.
He was puzzled by it and also became afraid to be in that place and he quickly went out of that place.
After the hunter went his own way the cat came out his hiding place and addressed the rat and said that they could be friends hereafter as the rat had saved his life.
To this the rat said to the cat 'You are my predator and I am your prey. How can there be friendship among us. It is because you have not taken food for one whole night you feel hungry and therefore you think about me.
For a reason friendship is born and for a reason it left behind. We both were in dire straights a few hours back and we helped each other. Now there is no need for our friendship anymore because the danger has been lifted. So you go your way and I go my way. We both cannot be friends'.
Does this story not bring out the duties of a King in times of difficulty.
