The Price for Pride

Anecdotes

oi-Staff

By Staff

Friday, May 15, 2009, 16:29

A tale from India illustrates the fall of pride beautifully.A turtle who was very talkative once overheard the plan of two hunters who schemed to catch turtles the very next day. The turtle turned to two cranes for help to elude the conspiracy of the hunters. It weaved a plan where in the cranes were to hold a long stick at their ends between their beaks.

The turtle was to close its mouth tightly in the middle of the stick so that it would be carried away to a safe distance when the birds make their flight.

The cranes agreed to the idea and asked the turtle to hold the stick firmly. The cranes took off with their flight with the turtle dangling in the middle of the stick. When the birds were up high in the air with the turtle, people from below were awe struck about the strange sight.

They exclaimed " What clever birds! A brilliant idea to carry a turtle!" The proud turtle who could not contain himself shouted out " The idea is mine!", only to tumble from above to land on the earth.Pride cannot escape the price that it has to pay.