The Cunning Crane and The Crab
from The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse.Notes
The Crane is very clever in this story. He identifies a population weaker than himself in the fish, who struggle to survive in their tiny pond. The Crane also identifies a solution to their problem - a nice cool lake nearby. If this were a story with people, the Crane might take this as a business opportunity and make some money by offering the only safe passage to the lake. However, the Crane is driven by hunger and greed. At first, the Crane is smart enough to overcome his greed - he successfully shows the one eyed fish the lake and brings him back. This is critical for the Crane's plan - a product demo if you will - to encourage the fish to get a ride in his mouth. Ultimately, this is how the Crane succeeds in eating all the fish.
The fish are helpless, and it is relatively unclear if they would survive in their current situation. Would patience have helped them? What do we as people think when we are trapped in our metaphorical small ponds? I think the fish are a very interesting element of the story. They all end up dying - would patience have prevailed?
The Crab is the character who comes along to stop exploitation. The Crab has more power than the fish by its nature - the fish have nothing but the Crab has claws. As seen by the Crab being able to decapitate the Crane, its claws are very powerful. The Crab represents the importance of people who are able to protect the weak, whereas the Crane represents those who exploit the weak. Unfortunately for the fish, the Crab wasn't in the business of saving them - but what could have been if the Crab had gone to the lake first.
Depiction of the story, from the Jataka website (Link)
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