In a dense forest, there stood a huge banyan tree. It had a thick trunk and spread out branches formed liked an umbrella. A flock of wild geese lived in this tree. Their leader was an old goose who was very wise and far-sighted.
The geese were living in the tree very happily. One day, the old leader noticed a small vine sprouting near the tree’s roots. As it began to wind around the banyan tree’s trunk, she thought, “One day, it will encircle the trunk many times, forming a ladder-like structure that could be very dangerous for us all.”
So, when all the geese had returned to the tree to pass the night, the leader called a meeting and said, “Look you all ! A vine has begun to wind around the trunk of this tree. One day it can be very dangerous for us. So, it is better to uproot it just now.”
But some of the geese opposed the move saying, “Why should we destroy the vine? It looks so beautiful. Moreover, it is still very small. What harm can it bring us after all?”
“Friends! It looks attractive at present, no doubt. But as it twiners round the trunk, it will grow big, thick and strong. Any enemy such as snake or hunter etc. shall be able to climb up the tree very easily and harm us,” argued the old goose.
But the younger members turned down her suggestion saying, “It is no less than a sin to uproot a sprout. It is a murder indeed, we shall not destroy it.”
So, the vine remained intact. In due course, it grew thick and strong and curled round the tree-trunk like a thick rope.
One day, the geese had been away as usual during the day. A hunter roaming in search of game chanced to come to the banyan tree. He looked at the tree and the vine that had grown twining round the thick trunk up to its end. The experienced eyes of the hunter had also judged that a number of big birds lived on the tree. So, he decided to climb the tree using the twiner and spread his net among the branches to entrap the birds living there.
So, finding the birds absent, the hunter went up the tree by means of the thick twiner and spread his net among the branches. Then he came down and went away quietly. He made up his mind to come there the next morning to collect the entrapped birds.
As soon as it was nightfall, the geese came home. They could not see the net as it was almost dark then. So, all of them were caught in the hunter’s net. They struggled hard but could not get free.
The geese started panicking and raised an alarm, “We are caught ! We are caught !! Save us! Save us!!”
“It is no use crying now,” said the old goose, “It has happened because of that vine. The hunter shall come in the morning and kill us all.”
“Pardon us for our folly and help us out of the danger,” requested the geese with tears in their eyes.
The old goose thought hard and hit upon an idea. She said, “Listen carefully all of you! When the hunter comes, pretend to be dead in the net itself. He will pick us out of the net one by one and throw us to the ground. When the last of us has been thrown and he starts climbing down with his net, we should get up and fly away all at once before he is able to come down.”
All the geese liked the plan and made up their minds to carry it out with care and cleverness.
So, when the hunter came in the morning, he found all the geese lying dead in the net itself.
Thinking them as dead as a door nail, the hunter started picking every goose gently out of the net and threw it down to the ground. All the geese lay still until the last one had been thrown to the ground. Seeing the hunter climbing down, all of them got up and flew away in a body.
The hunter was taken aback and stood gazing at them, repenting over his folly.
Moral of the Story:- Awareness keeps danger at bay.
