The Deer and the Crow: A Hitopadesha Story with Moral
Quick answer: The Deer and the Crow retold in full: a jackal befriends a deer to lead him into a farmer's snare and the old friend, a crow, saves him. Hitopadesha moral on false friends.
A deer and a crow have been friends for years when a jackal arrives with compliments and an invitation to a field of ripe grain. The Deer and the Crow comes from the first book of the Hitopadesha, Mitralabha, and draws the line between an old friend and a new admirer.
The story
In a forest in Magadha a deer named Chitranga and a crow named Subuddhi had been friends so long that the crow slept in the tree above the deer's bed. One day a jackal watched the deer grazing, fat and glossy. 'I cannot catch him, but I can be his friend, and then I can lead him.' He came up smiling. 'Sir, I am a stranger here and alone. May I walk with you?' The deer, who was kind and not very clever, said yes.
That evening he brought the jackal home. The crow looked down from the branch. 'You have known him one afternoon. Friend, never trust a stranger whose family and habits you do not know.' The jackal spoke sweetly of how the deer and the crow had also once been strangers, and the deer was ashamed of his old friend's rudeness, and the jackal stayed.
Some days later the jackal said, 'Brother, I have found a field of young grain not far off.' He led the deer there, and the deer ate, and came back the next day, and the next. The farmer saw the trampled rows and set a snare. On the fourth morning the deer put his foot into it and fell, and the jackal sat down at a little distance. 'Brother, bite the ropes.' 'Brother, today is a fast day and I may not touch leather. Tomorrow, perhaps.' And he waited for the farmer to kill the deer and leave him the scraps.
The crow, searching, found his friend at dusk, saw the jackal, saw the ropes, and understood. 'Lie still. Fill your belly with air and stiffen your legs. When the farmer loosens the snare, run when I call.' The farmer came at dawn, saw a dead deer, undid the ropes, and turned to fetch his cart. The crow cawed. The deer sprang up and ran. The farmer threw his heavy club after it, and the club missed the deer and struck the jackal where he sat waiting for his breakfast, and killed him.
The moral, and what it actually means
The Hitopadesha states it in the crow's words: do not give friendship to a stranger whose nature you do not know. The story adds a finer point in the jackal's fast day. He does not need to betray the deer actively; he only has to do nothing at the right moment and dress the nothing in piety.
Where the tale sits and why it has lasted
It is told in Mitralabha, the first book of the Hitopadesha, as a lesson about who deserves trust, and a version appears in the Panchatantra as well. It has lasted because of the club. The farmer never learns who the jackal was, and the justice that lands on him is blind, thrown at someone else. Fables usually punish deliberately; this one punishes by accident, and the accident feels like fate.
For young readers and classrooms
From about seven upward.
Write your own
The engine is the friend who does nothing. Give your betrayer no active crime: only an absence at the crucial moment and a good reason for it. Then let the rescue come from the friend who was dismissed as suspicious. Aim the final justice at the wrong target and let it hit the right one.
What writers can take from this
- For readers: the jackal's first words are about his loneliness; sympathy is his opening move.
- For teachers: pair this with The Four Friends from the Panchatantra, where the same trick of playing dead saves a deer.
- For teachers: ask children to name the moment the deer should have listened to the crow.
- For writers: a betrayal by inaction is harder to forgive than a lie; the fast day is a masterstroke.
- For writers: accidental justice, the thrown club, reads as fate. Use it once and do not explain it.
Try it yourself
Write a story in which an old friend warns against a new one and is overruled, the new friend betrays by simply being unavailable at the vital moment with a virtuous excuse, and the punishment that reaches him was meant for someone else.
Questions
What is the moral of The Deer and the Crow?
Do not trust a stranger whose nature you do not know, and value the old friend who warns you. The jackal betrays the deer by refusing to help, and the crow saves him.
Which Hitopadesha book is The Deer and the Crow from?
The first book, Mitralabha, the Gaining of Friends. A version of the tale also appears in the Panchatantra.
Is The Deer and the Crow suitable for children?
Yes, from about seven. The deer survives, the trick of playing dead is fun to act out, and the jackal's excuse makes a memorable lesson.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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