The King and his Hawk

A king had trained a hawk for purposes of hunt and reconnoiter. He used to take the hawk with him whenever he went out. Once the king and his huntsmen were riding home through a valley between the desert dunes. The king felt very thirsty. As he rode along the valley he found, to his great joy, some water dribbling down the edge of a rock. He at once dismounted and held out his silver goblet to collect some water. Meanwhile, his pet hawk which he carried with him, flew out and began to circle over the dunes.

After some time, when the cup was full, the king raised it to drink the crystal clear water with great eagerness. But before he could do so, the hawk suddenly swooped down from above and flapped its wing against the cup, so that all the water was spilled.

The king looked up and saw his pet hawk alight upon the top of the rock from where the water trickled down. He picked up the cup and held it again to collect the trickling drops. He had to wait a long time until the cup was full, and then when he was about to drink the water, the hawk dived down as before and knocked out the cup from the king’s hand. The king grew very angry. He collected the water again with great patience and for the third time the hawk did not allow the king to drink it.

The king was furious by now. He drew out his sword and shouted at the hawk: “This is the last time. If you prevent me from drinking the water, you will pay with your life.” He collected the water again patiently, and this time he was wary with his sword as he raised the cup to drink the water. The hawk did come down again and knock out the cup, but as it did so, the king cut off its head with a quick sweep of the sword.

He grunted, “Now you had your lesson!” As he looked down for his cup, he saw that it had fallen inside a crevice where he could not get down. So he began to climb up the rock to drink from the source. When he reached the top, he found there a pool of water inside which there was a dead poisonous snake. The king was stupefied. He no longer remembered his thirst but only thought of his hasty action which resulted in the killing of the hawk which saved his life. The king then resolved, “I have learnt a bitter lesson today, i.e., never to do anything in haste.”

Haste is the mother of grief. Develop discriminative power. Think well, and then act. Look before you leap.❤️🙏