You'd probably have read about Aesop's The Mice in Council and familiar with this phrase Belling the cat or To bell a cat; but this is just a Tibetan story about another cat called Agnija. Agnija, who upon old age, loses the power to catch mice, has to rely on trickery instead. Feigning regret over his past act of killing mice, he told a company of 500 mice that he is going to do penance. The mice believe him and become too lax in their attitude that Agnija could catch them as they go about their daily life. The chief of the mice noticing the cat getting fat and healthier and the population of the mice dwindling starts to keep a careful watch and finds out that the cat has indeed eaten his subjects. And he then comes up with this verse: As the uncle's body gets bigger, but my troop on the contrary becomes smaller, and as he who eats roots and berries will not become fat and well covered with hair, this is not a genuine penance, but one performed only for the sake of gain. Because the number of the mice diminishes, have you, O Agnija, thrives. Talking about penance, I wonder if Buddhists do penance. Then too, I wonder if such people are placed high up on a pedestal.
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