Tiger, Lion and Tree God

(Inspired by a Jataka Tale) 

Gautum Buddha before taking birth as the prince of Lumbini Province in Nepal He took birth many times . 

In one of his past life his name was Bodhisattva . 

In Varanasi there were two forests . Bodhisattva was a Tree God named Somya,in one of the forest and the Tree God of the neighbouring forest was his friend. 

In his friend's forest there was a tiger and a lion. They used to eat many deers and the remaining meat which they could not finish they threw them in the forest which would make the whole forest dirty and smelly. For the fear of these two animals humans were afraid to come. All the animals complained to the Tree God about the tiger and the lion making the forest dirty and smelly but he could not take care of it alone . 

One day he went to Somya and said , 

" Oh my god everyday everyday I am getting so many complains but I just can't figure out how to make the tiger and the lion leave the forest please give me a way." Somya said ," No you should not be doing this if the tiger and lion go away humans will start coming and cutting down the trees for wood and the forest will be destroyed. You all have to learn to adjust so that you can save the forest ". The Tree God was not happy with that answer so he made a plan himself. 

That night, he took a scary attire and frightened the tiger and the lion. The next few days in the forest went well everyone lived peacefully. When a week had passed the humans started to notice there weren't any tiger or lion. They started coming to the forest and by a week they had cut down half of the forest. The Tree God couldn't see his forest being destroyed so he went to Somya again. 

The Tree God narrated his story to Somya and said ,"Oh Somya , what should I do now? If this continues my forest will be destroyed . " 

Somya said, "Find the forest in which they are living and apologize to them with heart ."  The Tree God obeyed Somya 's words this time and after finding the forest he went there and said to the tiger and the lion, 

    

       " Oh mighty carnivores, please come back to your home   

dear tiger and lion please comeback I apologize to you for what I did with all my heart please forgive me " 

They said, " Go back you fool after what you did to us it's very difficult to trust you we are not coming back to your forest and we also don't care if it gets destroyed "

With a heavy heart The Tree God came back to the forest alone and after a few weeks the forests were destroyed and the humans started farming in those fields. 

Moral - Always think before you speak or do some work