A Fool Can Be Cheated

Translated by Dhammacaro (from Hitopadesa)

Once upon a time, there lived an old snake that could not hunt for food which lived by a big pond. While it was lying still, one frog approached it and asked why the snake was so thin. The snake thought that this was its chance to get to eat all the frogs in the area and so answered, “I was cursed by God”. The frog asked why that was so and what wrong the snake had done. The snake answered, “I bit the God’s son to death by accident so the God cursed me to guard this pond and take care for you guys, and I am not to harm you but instead be your ride. So you can sit on my back.”

From then on, all the frogs was no longer afraid of the old snake, they played and sat on the snake’s back. And when the frogs got careless, the snake ate them. The snake continued to play such games until all the frogs in the pond were eaten.

The moral of this story:

A fool can be cheated by a canning one, so we have to seek for knowledge. Knowledge can protect us from doing wrong and being cheated.