The Cat's Judgement: A Panchatantra Story with Moral
Quick answer: The Cat's Judgement retold in full: a partridge and a hare take their quarrel over a nest to a pious cat, who asks them to come closer. The Panchatantra moral.
A partridge and a hare argue over who owns a hollow in a tree, and agree to let a cat decide. The Cat's Judgement comes from the third book of the Panchatantra, Kakolukiya, and it is the collection's sharpest warning about trusting a judge because he looks holy.
The story
A partridge named Kapinjala lived in a hollow at the foot of a great tree, and one spring he flew off with a flock to a field of new rice and stayed away so long that the other animals thought him dead. A hare named Sighraga, looking for a home, found the hollow empty, swept it out, and moved in. When the partridge came back, fat with rice, he found a hare's ears in his doorway.
'That is my house.' 'It was empty. A house is whoever lives in it.' 'A house is whoever built it.' They argued until the sun went down and neither would give an inch, and at last the hare said, 'Let us find a judge. Someone learned, someone holy. We will abide by what he says.' The partridge agreed, and they set off along the riverbank to look.
On a flat rock by the water sat a cat named Dadhikarna. He sat with his eyes closed, his paws folded, a string of prayer beads round his neck, his face lifted to the sun, and he murmured verses about non-violence and the sorrows of the world. The hare stopped short. 'He is a cat.' 'Look at him,' said the partridge. 'Look at the beads. Look how he does not even glance at us. A cat like that eats grass.' They called out their case from a safe distance.
The cat opened one eye slowly, as if returning from a great height. 'Children, I am old and my hearing is nearly gone. I wish to judge justly, but I cannot judge what I cannot hear. Come closer and speak into my ear, one on each side.' They looked at each other, and at the beads, and they came. The partridge stood at his left ear and the hare at his right, and Dadhikarna finished his verse, and then the rock was empty except for a few feathers and a string of beads, and the hollow in the tree belonged to nobody.
The moral, and what it actually means
The tradition draws it plainly: never trust an enemy because he has put on the robes of virtue, and never let a dispute deliver you into the hands of a third party who profits from both sides. The partridge and the hare are so busy fighting each other that they hand a predator the one thing he needs, which is their consent. The cat does not chase them. He is invited.
Where the tale sits and why it has lasted
It is told in Kakolukiya, the third book, by the old crow minister as a warning about accepting an enemy's counsel in the war between the crows and the owls. It has lasted because of the cat's request. 'Come closer' is the most economical villain's line in the collection, and the victims walk the last steps themselves.
For young readers and classrooms
From about eight upward.
Write your own
The engine is the judge with an appetite. Give two characters a quarrel that matters to them and not at all to the reader, then introduce a third party whose costume of neutrality is perfect and whose interest is hidden in plain sight. The victims must deliver themselves. Never let the villain move first.
What writers can take from this
- For readers: the dispute is never settled, and that is the point; the tale is about the judge, not the house.
- For teachers: children enjoy listing the cat's disguise details and deciding which should have been the giveaway.
- For teachers: pair it with the Hitopadesha's The Blind Vulture and the Cat, where the same disguise of piety works on a different victim.
- For writers: let the victims argue about the wrong thing; misdirected attention is the cheapest suspense there is.
- For writers: the villain's single request should sound like a kindness.
Try it yourself
Write a story in which two people who cannot settle an argument agree to let a stranger decide, choosing him because he looks like the most trustworthy person present. Make his one request sound reasonable, and let them fulfil it.
Questions
What is the moral of The Cat's Judgement?
Do not trust a judge because he looks holy, and do not let a quarrel deliver you both into an enemy's hands. The partridge and the hare walk up to the cat themselves.
Which Panchatantra book is The Cat's Judgement from?
The third book, Kakolukiya, Crows and Owls, where the old crow minister tells it as a warning against trusting an enemy's counsel.
Is The Cat's Judgement suitable for children?
Yes, from about eight. The ending is implied rather than shown, and the cat's costume of piety makes a good lesson in reading appearances.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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