Panchatantra Elephants Mice

tale:panchatantra_elephants_mice

A herd of elephants, crossing to a lake, tramples a village of mice. The mouse-king begs the elephant-king to choose another path, and he kindly does. Later, when the elephants are trapped in the hunters' ropes, the grateful mice come in their thousands by night and gnaw every elephant free. Moral: spare the small, and the small may one day save you. — Panchatantra (attrib. Vishnu Sharma)