The Dog who went Abroad

Panchtantra Stories

There was a famine in a city in the south where lived a dog named Chitranga. Dogs like him were dying due to lack of food, and there was a danger of the entire species being wiped out. So, Chitranga decided to leave the city and went to a far-off city in search of food. In the new city, he found the house of a wealthy man, who had a lazy and careless wife. She forgot to close the doors of the house. Every day, Chitranga would sneak into the open house and have his fill. But he really could not enjoy his food because as soon as he came out of the house, street mongrels attacked him and severely wounded him.  Chitranga thought, "Oh, I made a mistake in coming here. Home was better even if there was no food. There was no struggle like this for food. Let me go home."  In the end, Chitranga left that city and returned home.  Seeing him return from abroad, Chitranga’s friends asked him, "Tell us everything about the country you have visited. How are the people there? What is their culture?"  The dog said, "The less said the better about that country. Everything is freely available because the women are careless. Yet your own kith and kin deprive you of this joy."  The croc was then impressed by the monkey’s good advice and decided to fight the encroaching croc. He fought his enemy with great valour and killed him and regained the house occupied by him. The elders have said: "There is no true happiness in What you get without effort. Even an old bullock survives On food that comes his way." Thus ended the dialogue between Raktamukha and Karalamukha. Thus ends the fourth part of the Panchatantra.