The Mice That Ate the Iron Scale
Panchatantra Stories · 2 min read
In a certain town lived a merchant named Nanda, who had fallen on hard times and needed to travel far away to rebuild his fortune. Before he left, he asked his old friend Jayadatta to look after his most valuable possession — an iron weighing-scale of ten maunds, used for his trade.
Jayadatta agreed, but as the months passed and money grew tight, he could not resist the temptation. He quietly sold the heavy iron scale to a blacksmith for a good price, telling himself he would replace it before his friend ever returned.
But Nanda came back sooner than expected, and the very first thing he asked for was his scale.
"I am so sorry, my friend," said Jayadatta, putting on his most sorrowful face. "A terrible thing happened — mice got into the storeroom where I kept it, and they ate the entire scale, every last bit of iron."
Nanda said nothing at first, only nodding slowly, as though it were the most reasonable explanation in the world. "Mice will do such things," he said at last. "It cannot be helped."
A few days later, Nanda asked a favor in return: could Jayadatta's young son go with him to the river, to help carry some goods back from the boats? Jayadatta happily agreed and sent the boy along.
But Nanda did not take the boy to the river at all. Instead, he hid him safely at a relative's house and returned alone.
"Where is my son?" Jayadatta cried when Nanda came back without him.
Nanda sighed heavily. "A terrible thing happened," he said, echoing Jayadatta's very words. "A great hawk swooped down from the sky and carried your son away in its claws."
"That's absurd!" Jayadatta shouted. "A hawk cannot possibly carry off a boy — this is madness! Where is my son, truly?"
"Strange," Nanda replied calmly, "that a hawk cannot carry off a boy, and yet mice can devour an iron scale of ten maunds. Return my property, and you shall have your son back this very hour."
Caught in his own lie, Jayadatta had no choice but to confess and pay for the scale in full — and only then did Nanda gladly bring his son safely home.
Moral of the story
A lie told to gain something unfairly will eventually be answered by an equally clever lie — and the truth always finds its way out.