The Greedy Crane

Once there lived a crane near a small pond. He was very old and tired but was full of greediness. Due to old age, he was unable to hunt for fishes and afford for his meal. In this way, he might die out of hunger, if he didn't get food for days long.

One day he thought of a plan to grab the fishes from the pond and have a feast. He went near the pond and called the fishes, "hello friends, anyone out there? Can anyone here me?" Some of the fishes came out of the water and replied, "hi, Mr. Crane. What's the matter?" The crane was very happy to see them, "Well friends, I am getting old nowadays, so I am thinking of giving a gift to you all". The fishes couldn't believe him, they asked, "gift? Have you ever thought of our well-being?" The crane replied, "I know, I have never thought of your well-being, but now I realized that. I want you all to move out of this pond and shift to a bigger one".

The fishes denied his offer, "we were born and brought up here. We are happy here and why should we trust you? You might be planning to kill us." Crane was emotional and replied, "Okay, it's all your wish to trust me or not but remember one thing, your next generation is growing, that would need a bigger place to live and play. Your kids can't accommodate inside this smaller pond. I am thinking of their future." The fishes moved by crane's words and agreed to him. One of the fishes asked, "okay, we will trust you but could you please let us know, how we will go there?" Crane replied,"oh, you don't worry at all, I will take you all one by one with the help of my beak".

The fishes were happy to see the enthusiast crane and all got ready to go with the crane. The crane first took one fish in his beak and flew away. He sat over a banyan tree. The fish asked him in a shocking way, "what happened, where is the big pond? why did you bring me here?" The crane laughed aloud and replied, "you silly fish, don't you understand, I brought you here to have a feast on you." The helpless fish couldn't do anything but simply watched his own death. After eating the fish, the crane dropped the cartilages on the ground. The crane flew back to the small pond to grab another fish. He did the same thing to that fish also.

In this way, the crane ate all the fishes in the pond and dropped their cartilages near the tree. At last, he found an old crab inside the pond. He did not want to miss the chance to eat the crab. He applied the same trick to the crab. He said to the crab, "Hello Mr.crab, hope you are doing good. I have an offer for you." The crab was a little bit surprised and replied, "please go ahead".The crane replied, "I want you to move to out of this small pond to a bigger one and I will help you to do so". The crab refused, "sorry Mr.crane, but I am very old now and I am not willing to go anywhere else". The crane said, "I completely understand your feelings, but I don't want you to stay here alone at this old age, all fishes have moved to their new place and are very happy".

The crab knew the crane very well and did not trust him. But the crab wanted to know crane's intentions behind such an offer. So, he agreed to go with the crane. The crab replied, "okay fine, I will come with you". The crane replied, "that's cool! I will take you with the help of my beak". The crab suddenly replied,"No no, I am very old, I might fall down and break my bones, better I will hang around your neck if you don't mind". The crane did not think much about crab's word and agreed to him. The crane flew with the crab hanging around his neck. The crane sat above the banyan tree. The crab could see the cartilages of the fishes near the tree.

He understood the intentions of the crane. The crab asked, "where is the pond, I could not see any bigger pond nearby". The crane replied, "You silly crab, don't you understand? I will have a feast on you". The crab replied, "I am not silly, I was already aware of your ill intentions and wanted to punish you. If I let you go today, your greediness won't go away, rather will increase". The crane was puzzled with crab's reply. After completing his words, the crab immediately chocked crane to death and went away from there.

Moral of the story: "Too much of greediness might land you in trouble".