Beauty and Grey

A Wise Leader

Long, long time ago, there was a deer that was the herd leader of a thousand. He had two sons. The first son, Beauty, was a very slim and tall deer with bright sparkling eyes and smooth scarlet fur. The second, Grey, was also slim and tall with handsome grey fur.

One day, when Beauty and Grey were old enough, their father said: "I am now very old, and cannot do all that is necessary to look after this large herd of deers. I wish to retire and I want the two of you, my grown-up children, to be the leader. The two of you will share the herd, with each leading 500 deers." With that, the two deers became leaders in their own right.

At that time in India, the deers were always in danger during harvesting season. Rice crops were at its tallest when they were to be harvested, and the deers could not help but venture into the paddy fields to eat them.T o avoid the destruction of their crops, the human dug pits, set sharp stakes in the ground, and built stone traps to capture and kill the deers.

When the harvesting season arrived, the wise old deer called his two sons to him. He advised them to take the herds up into the mountain forest, far from the dangerous farmlands. He had used this tactic to save the deers from being wounded or killed over the years. Then he would bring them back to the lowlands after the harvest was over.

As he was too old and weak for the journey, the wise old deer chose to stay behind in hiding. After warning them to be careful, he wished them a safe trip. Beauty set out with his herd for the mountain forest, and so did Grey with his.

Knowing that this was the season the deers migrated from the low-lying farmlands to the highlands of the countryside, the villagers hid along the way and killed them as they passed by.

In his hurry to get his herd to the lush mountain forest, Grey did not heed his father's wise advice. Instead of travelling cautiously, he moved his herd constantly, during the night, at dawn and dusk, and even in broad daylight. This made the deers in Grey's herd an easy target for the humans to shoot with their bows and arrows. Many were killed and seriously injured, only to die in great pain later on. Finally, when Grey arrived at the forest, only a few paltry deers were left in his herd.

Beauty, in the other hand, was wise enough to understand the dangers posed to his moving herd. He was very careful. He realised it was safer to stay away from the villages and from all humans. He knew it was not safe to move the herd in the daytime, or even at dawn or dusk. So he ed his herd wide around the villages and moved only in the middle of the night. Due to Beauty's prudence and wisdom, all of his herd reached the mountain forest safe and sound. Not one was killed or injured.

The two herds found each other, and remained in the mountains until the harvesting season was over, Then they began to return to the low-lying farmlands for it was turning cold in the mountains.

Unfortunately, Grey had learnt nothing from his first trip. In his anxiety to return to the warmer lowlands, he was just as thoughtless and brash as before. Again, the people hid along the way and sprang an attack on the deers. All of Grey's remaining herd were killed. Only Grey himself survived the hazardous journey.

But Beauty led his herd in the same careful way as before. He brought all 500 deers back safely. Seeing the deers, the old chief said to his doe when the herd was still some distance away: "Look. Beauty has brought all his followers safely back with him, whereas Grey comes limping back alone without his whole herd of 500. Those who follow a wise leader, with good qualities, will always be safe. But those who follow a foolish leader, who is careless and thinks only of himself, will fall into troubles and be destroyed.

After some times, the old deer died and was reborn as he deserved. And as for Beauty, he became the chief of the herd and lived a long life, loved and admired by all.

The moral is: A wise leader puts the safety of his followers first.
The Bodhisattva: The wise old deer