Page:Folk-lore of the Telugus.djvu/113



At Rajahmundry there lived a King Vishnu vardhana by name, who, distressed at the misconduct of his sons, requested a Brahman to instruct them in the paths of virtue. The Brahman, thereupon, began to tell them the following story of the crow, the turtle, the deer and the rat to prove to them the blessings of harmony.

There stood on the banks of the Godavari a huge cotton tree on which birds of the air used to roost at night. Laghupathanaka, king of the crows, woke early one morning and saw a Kirata fowler who appeared to him a second Yama and said:—"I have seen this man's face at dawn. Some misfortune is sure to happen. It is not wise to remain near him." As he was flying away as quickly as possible, the fowler approached the tree, scattered a little rice, spread his net, and lay in ambush close by. Thereupon Chitragriva, the dove-king, who