The Golden Deer Who Saved His Herd
Long long ago there was a king who was much given to hunting deer. He relished the deer meat very much. Almost every day he would go hunting. The citizens, in their hundreds, would be required to accompany him to the forest. They would spread over a wide area, encircling it. Then they would slowly come closer, shouting and beating drums. The circle they made would have only one outlet where the king would stand ready with his bow and arrows. As the panicky deer would try to escape through the outlet, the king would shoot and kill one of them, if not more. This went on day after day. The citizens were tired of giving company to the king in his daily expedition. Their vocational work suffered. Many of them got injured in the operation. They met and decided to drive all the deer into a park that was adjacent to the palace compound. Accordingly, one-day thousands of people surrounded the whole forest, and with their yells and the sound of the bugles and drums drove all the deer into the park. Once the deer had entered the park, they closed all its openings save the one which opened into the palace garden. Against that opening, they set a gate which no deer however smart could cross.
The spokesman of the citizens then met the king and said, "My lord, we know how very fond of deer meat you are. You spend much time hunting and oblige us to waste our time too. We have done something that should please you. We have driven all the deer into the park close to your garden. You can kill a deer a day with ease and spare us the trouble of running about in the forest. The king at once paid a visit to the park and satisfied himself that what he heard was true. He strolled in the park for a long time, delighted at the sight of the numerous deer. Soon his eyes fell on a particular deer which was quite large in size. The king went near it and found that its color was of luminous gold, its horns dazzled like polished silver and its eyes glittered like a pair of precious jewels. The king realized that the wonderful deer he saw was the chief of the herd. But he did not know that the deer was none other than a great soul. "I marvel at your grandeur. You are, indeed, a remarkable creature. Although a deer, I take you as my friend. Never shall you get killed, either by me or by anyone else. Be free to move about, eat as much grass as you like, and drink from the pool. For you, even the gates of my garden are ever open," the king told the deer, patting him on the back. "Thank you, my lord," said the deer. But he looked sad because of the captive state of his herd. Every day either the king or one of his servants entered the park and took aim at a deer, with his bow and arrow. At that the deer got panicky. As a result of each one trying to hide behind the other, there was a stampede.