A crow called Laghupatanaka, a rat named Hiranyaka and a turtle known as Manthara became good friends. Once, they found a deer trembling with fright in a forest.
"What is wrong, good deer? Why are you trembling and cowering?" they asked.
"Good friends, my name is Chitranga and a hunter is chasing me."
"Oh dear," said Manthara, "we must find a way to help you."
"Yes, please do," replied Chitangra, obviously very scared for his life.
"How can tiny creatures like us help you?" asked the three.
"Well, I am not sure, but I will tell you a story to show that even the tiniest of creatures can help. Size and physical strength is not everything, you know!

"Once upon a time, some rats lived in a forest and they were once trampled by a herd of elephants.
The king of the rats went to the king of the elephants and said to him, 'if you will spare our tribe, we will one day help you and your herd in need."
Even though amused, the elephant king agreed. Soon after, the elephants were caught in a trap.
The elephant king called out to the tiny rats, 'Come little fellows, it is now your turn to help us.'
The rats came and freed the elephants by biting away the net. So, you see, friends can always help each other" said Chitranga.
After hearing this story, the three friends took the deer also as their friend and vowed to protect him as best they could from the hunter.

One day, however, the hunter took them all off guard and captured Chitangra and tied him to a tree. As soon as the hunter went away, his friends rushed to help him. The rat bit away the rope but, just as the deer was set free, the hunter came back. The deer ran away, the crow flew and the rat hid itself, but the hunter caught Manthara, the slow turtle.
"How will we free him?" asked the friends.
They thought of a plan.

The next day, the hunter saw a dead deer lying on the ground with a crow pecking at it, right near the shores of a lake. He threw the turtle down and went to get the deer. While he did so, the rat ran to the turtle and helped it to reach the lake. Just as the hunter came near, Chitranga, pretending to be dead, sprang up and ran away and Laghupatanaka flew away. The hunter was totally perplexed to see how his prize catches, the deer and the turtle, had escaped.

Reprinted with permission from the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, from the Teachers' Guide for Value-based Spiritual Education. Curriculum for Classes I to X, 2000, Sahaj Marg Research and Training Institute of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, Chennai, India. For information contact Santosh Khanjee, Secretary of International Affairs at info@srcm.org.

Maxim Six: "Know all people as thy brethren and treat them as such".

Q: Is it only important to help those we think of as friends, those people we like and who like us? Or should friendship be an attitude towards all other people?

Q: Is there anything you need help with in your life at the moment?

Q: Is there anything you would like to do to help others?

Q: In this story, the animals get out of trouble by working as a team, using the qualities of each member of the team to advantage. Can you give some ideas on how people can work together to solve problems? Think of real situations in your own life. Also think of how countries could work together to resolve their problems.

O, Master!
Thou art the real goal of human life.
We are yet but slaves of wishes
Putting bar to our advancement,
Thou art the only God and power
To bring us up to that stage.