A Hermit and a Mouse

Once there lived a hermit named Shalakya in a forest named Malkand. Every day he used to go to the Ganges at dawn to take a dip in the holy waters.

One day he noticed a small mouse hiding from a big eagle. The hermit thought that he should take the mouse with him otherwise the eagle would catch her.

Thinking so, the hermit took the mouse with him to his hermitage. He then transformed the mouse into a girl and named her Apsara. He kept her like his daughter. Apsara looked after the hermit and learned all the vedic rituals and knowledge of the vedas from the hermit.

Gradually as the time passed, the girl grew up into a beautiful damsel. The hermit started looking for a suitable candidate for his daughter.

First he called the Sun God. The Sun God asked the girl whether she would become his wife. The latter refused saying that she would burn from the heat of the Sun.

The hermit asked the Sun God that was there a candidate more powerful than the latter. The Sun God replied that the cloud was more powerful as he overcast him with rains.

The hermit called the Cloud. The girl refused saying that the cloud never stays at one place. So she cannot marry him. The hermit asked the cloud that whether there was someone more powerful than him.

The cloud replied that the mountain was more powerful than him. Apsara refused to say the mountain was very heavy and she would crush under him.

The hermit enquired whether there was anyone more strong than the mountain. The latter replied that the mouse was more powerful as he dug a hole in it.

Apsara agreed to marry the mouse! Seeing the radiance on her face, the hermit agreed to marry her to the mouse.

The moral of the story is that just by changing the outer self it is not possible to change the inner self.