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SECTION SIX
The Miscellaneous Narratives (Paiņnaya-kahāņagāņi)
1. The Narrative of Peahen Eggs Once upon a time two young merchant boys of Campā went for an outing. There they noticed in a grove that a peahen had laid eggs. On hearing the footsteps of the young boys, the peahen got frightened and flew away and perched on a tree. When the young boys entered the grove they noticed two beautiful eggs. Facinated by their beauty they brought them home and kept them along with other eggs for hatching.
In order to ensure that a young beautiful peacock would emerge out of the egg, the first boy often shook and moved it to and fro in order to hear its sound inside the shell. Because of this repeated shaking the egg lost its life and no young peacock emerged out of the egg. The second boy was sure that a young peacock would emerge out of the egg so he never moved it or shock it to hear its sound, but let it grow in its natural way. In the course of time, a young beautiful peacock was seem emerging out of the egg. The boy took proper care of the young peacock and later entrusted it to a peacock tamer to teach him dancing. Very soon the peacock became a skilled dancer.
2. The Narratives of Two Turtles In the depths of a pool in the Ganga at Varanasi there lived two turtles. And in the nearby grove resided two vultures greedy of flesh.
Once two turtles came out of the pool in search of food. At the same time the two vultures were also hovering around the area. They noticed the turtles moving around and pounced on them. Seeing the vultures approaching them both the turtles withdraw themselves under their shell and remained still. Thereupon both the vultures came closer to them and started shaking them and piercing them with their talons. But the turtles remained still and did not move. The vultures tried to hit them a couple of times and became tired, left them and retired to their place.
Now thinking that the vultures had gone away, one of the turtles put its one leg out of its shell. Seeing this, one of the vultures, sitting at a distance, pounced upon the turtle, seized its leg and crushed it with teeth. The vulture also gulped down the other parts of its body.
Then the two vultures went near the other turtle. They moved, shook and turned it to end fro. When nothing came out, seeing the turtle motionless, they left it and went away. Knowing that the vultures have moved far away, the turtle slowly took out his neck and looked around. On seeing no one around it took out its four legs slowly and moved fast to its pool where it lived happily with its kith and kin.
3. The Narrative of Rohiņi Once upon a time there lived a merchant named Dhanya in Rājagrha. He had four sons. One day Dhanya called his four daughters-in-law, named Ujjhikā, Bhogavaiyā, Rakkhiya and
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