Once upon a time, there was a pair of sparrows living in a dense tree in the jungle. They happily made their nest on that tree and lived their lives contentedly. Then the winter season arrived, and it became bitterly cold. To escape the cold, one day some monkeys shivering with cold reached under that tree. All the monkeys were trembling from the chilly winds and were greatly troubled. After sitting under the tree, they started talking amongst themselves that if only they could find some fire to warm themselves up, the cold would go away. Meanwhile, one monkey’s eyes fell on some dry leaves lying nearby.
He said to the other monkeys, “Let’s gather these dry leaves and burn them.” The sparrows sitting on the tree watched all this. Unable to hold back, one of the sparrows spoke to the monkeys, “Who are you? You look like humans, you even have hands and feet. Why don’t you make your own homes?”
Hearing the sparrow, the monkeys trembling from the cold got angry and said, “Mind your own business. We don’t need your interference.” After saying this, they began to think about lighting a fire and started trying various methods. Amidst all this, the monkeys noticed a firefly.
The firefly started shouting, “Look, there’s spark in the air. Catch it to light a fire.” Hearing this, all the monkeys started trying various ways to catch the firefly. Upon seeing this, the sparrow spoke again, “This is a firefly; it won’t help you light a fire. You can generate fire by rubbing two stones together.”
The monkeys ignored the advice of the sparrow. After several attempts, they managed to catch the firefly, but they were unsuccessful in using it to start a fire, and the firefly flew away. This left the monkeys disappointed. At this point, the sparrow spoke up again, “Listen to me, you can light a fire by rubbing stones together.” Amidst this, one of the angry monkeys couldn’t resist himself and climbed the tree, destroying the sparrows’ nest. Seeing this, the sparrow became sad and frightened. After that, it flew away from that tree to another place.
Lesson from the story:
It’s not necessary to give knowledge or advice to everyone. Advice should be given only to those who are sensible and understand the context. Giving advice to a fool can lead to one’s own trouble.
