The selfish Swans

In an ancient kingdom there lived a king who possessed a lake named Lotus Lake which his warriors guarded with the greatest care, for it was filled with golden, wild geese that paid the king the tribute of one tail-feather a piece, every six months. One day a great bird, all golden, flew into that lake. The wild geese spoke sharply to it and asked it to leave the lake saying that they had earned the right to live in the lake by giving the king a gift of one golden tail-feather. Soon a raging dispute rose between the parties. The great bird now sought the king’s intervention in the matter. “Lord, the birds in your lake refuse to give me space to stay in the lake. Even the king cannot do anything to us they say. I told them that since they are being discourteous about the king, I shall go and complain to him and let His Majesty make his decision.” The king summoned his attendants and commanded them to go and kill all those birds in the lake and bring them to him without delay. Receiving the royal command, the attendants set out for the lake. Seeing the king’s men come marching, cudgel in hand, one ancient wild goose spoke: My dear kinsfolk, this does not bode well for us. Let us all be of one mind and fly away together. The wild geese flew away. The arrogance of the geese had led to their downfall.