Pyaari the Spotted Deer Fawn and Fury the Hated Lion Don

In the forest of Mumbo Jumbo in Tanzania, there lived a lion king named Fury. This maned 'Don' had an advisor - a jackal called Jooma. This cunning fellow used to accompany the lion-don whenever the latter went hunting.

One day, Jooma told his boss, "Your Highness, why on earth do you have to strain yourself with this hunting business? You are the king. The prey should come to you; you should not go after the prey. Issue an order stating that a member from each family of deer, zebra, and gazelle of this forest should present themselves before you, so that you may kill and eat to your heart's content without shedding a drop of sweat."

Fury was happy to hear this flattering suggestion and issued the necessary order immediately. The poor herbivorous animals had to comply with the royal proclamation.

The Sacrifice

A week passed, and it became the turn of the family of Pyaari, the spotted fawn, to sacrifice a member to satisfy the hunger of the lion king. Not wanting to send either of her two fawns, Pyaari or Gori, to end up in the lion king's jaws, the mother deer decided to go to the cave herself.

The night before, she was crying her eyes out thinking of leaving her fawns to the tender mercies of a big, bad jungle. It made Pyaari very sad to see her mother’s tear-filled eyes. She went near her and said, "Ma, don't worry. Let me go in your place. I have a little plan to put an end to this problem."

In the beginning, the mother deer refused, but she reluctantly agreed to let her child undertake the dangerous mission. Pyaari did not reveal her plan, but she assured her mother that nothing bad would happen. "Our King is not that bad. It is that jackal who misleads him," she said.

The Confrontation

At dawn the next morning, the deer mother took Pyaari up to the King's cave and left her there with a heavy heart. "What can my poor child Pyaari do against a mighty lion and a cunning jackal?" she thought.

When Pyaari the fawn presented herself, the lion burst into laughter. "You are too small! You can hardly appease my assistant, Jooma. What makes you think you can ease my hunger?"

"I am before you not to ease your hunger," Pyaari replied. "I am here to make you stop this cruel practice. I accept that you have to hunt, kill, and eat animals like us to survive, but doing it this way is against the rules of the jungle. To be chosen at random and chased before getting killed is different from being told to appear before you to be slaughtered.

When you hunt, we get a fair chance to escape. Moreover, we are not told of the impending death beforehand. Don't listen to your clever, lazy advisor. Resume your normal way of hunting. If you agree with me, it will be nice of you. If you don't, please be content with eating me and spare my mother and sister."

The Resolution

Little fawn Pyaari's short sermon touched the iron heart of Fury, making it melt like a lump of butter. He turned to his ill-advisor jackal and said, "You rascal, you are dismissed! Don’t come before me again. From now on, I will hunt and eat as I used to do before."

Then, turning to Pyaari, Fury said, "Thanks for opening my eyes, my dear deer fawn. You may go and rejoin your mother."

A tearful welcome awaited her from her mother and sister when she returned home after accomplishing her impossible mission. The news of how a small fawn reformed a big lion spread all over the jungle, and they all let out a sigh of relief.

The only animal that was unhappy was Jooma the jackal. He packed up his things and left for Kenya to find another lion to leech onto.