Hello,
My name is Amita and welcome back to the series of Panchatantra short stories.
So Panchatantra stories are the oldest surviving fables from ancient India.
These are spread all over the world for centuries,
Especially as bedtime stories for kids.
So I am starting this Panchatantra series of 60 stories.
Hope you like it.
So the lake started drying up.
Due to insufficient water in the lake,
The fishes started dying too.
Looking at the adverse situation,
The worried swans said,
We should leave this place as soon as we can.
Otherwise we will die of hunger.
Next day the swans flew in search of another water body.
After flying for some time,
They found a pond near the city.
Both the swans came back happily and informed their friend Tatus.
Oh friend Tatus,
Tomorrow we will leave this place and go to another pond,
Which is full of water and fishes.
Listening to the swans,
The tortoise became sad.
He said,
Dear friends,
You can fly and shift to the pond,
But I shall be left behind to die without food as I cannot walk up to the pond.
The swans and the tortoise had been living together happily,
So the swans felt so sorry for the tortoise.
They too wanted to take the tortoise there.
At last they found an idea.
The swans brought a strong stick and asked the tortoise to hold the stick tightly in the middle of his mouth.
Then both the swans held the either side of the stick in their beaks and flew in the sky.
Before leaving,
The swans strictly warned the tortoise not to speak while flying in the air,
Lest it would result in his fall.
The tortoise who was flying for the first time was quite ecstatic and enjoying the flight.
After flying for some time,
The swans and the tortoise reached nearby a city.
When they flew above the city,
The people were amazed to watch the scene.
One person said in amazement,
See how two swans are carrying the turtle.
Others said,
No,
No,
It looks like the flying tortoise.
The third person said something else.
The tortoise who had been listening to various conflicting statements since long could not contain himself and opened his mouth to correct the people.
As he opened the mouth,
He could not speak a single word.
Before that,
He fell on the hard ground and died sadly.
