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In the Shanthi Parva of the epic Mahabharata, Bheeshma advices Dharmaputra (Yudhishtra) on many aspects of life. While talking about friendship and animosity he says- "Our situation may at times demand us to have acquaintance with our enemy and vice versa. Under such conditions also, we must not assume that the enemy has given up the ill feeling towards us totally and has become our close friend." With a view to expound on this point he narrates the following story.

Once upon a time in a forest, there lived a wild cat atop a Banyan tree. A mouse also lived within a small hole in the trunk of that tree. Terrified by the presence of its foremost enemy, the mouse could not move about freely in the forest. One day a hunter, set a trap for the animals near the banyan tree by laying down a net with some food placed on it. The cat was caught in the net when it tried to get to the food. The mouse's joy knew no bounds at the sight of the trapped cat. It thought, "Now that my enemy is trapped I can move about freely." Taking advantage of the situation it jumped out of the hole only to find a mongoose on one side and an owl on the other waiting for it, their prey. Sensing danger, the mouse did some quick thinking and concluded that making friends with its primary enemy cat, would be the only way to escape from the jeopardy.

It approached the cat and said, "Both of us are in danger. You are caught in the trap laid by the hunter and it is practically impossible for you to make an escape. The mongoose and the owl have spotted me and so I cannot escape without your help. So why don't we strike a deal? I will come inside the net and lie on your lap but you must not harm me. Seeing me in your company, the mongoose and owl will not come near me. As a token of thanks for the help rendered I will bite this net off and you will also be saved.” Finding no other option for freeing itself from the net the cat accepted the deal.

Next moment the mouse was on the lap of the cat! The mongoose and the owl waited for sometime and then left to look for prey elsewhere. The mouse breathed a sigh of relief and came out of the net. Keeping up its promise the mouse started biting off the net. But to the annoyance of the cat, the mouse was biting the net at a very slow pace. Angered by the mouse’s action the cat said, “You had promised to free me if I saved you from danger. But now that you are out of danger you are biting the net at such a slow pace that I am sure to be caught by the hunter.”

The intelligent mouse replied, “Well! If I bite off the net completely now, no doubt you will be released quickly, but what about me? Once free, you are sure to eat me off! I will certainly keep up my promise. In the morning when I hear the hunter come, I will bite off the net quickly and release you. Anxious about the impending danger (of the hunter catching you), you will run away without harming me and I too will be safe.”

The next morning on seeing the hunter come along with the hunting dogs, the mouse quickly bit off the remaining net and freed the cat as it had promised. The cat ran away to save itself from the hunter and the mouse too was saved by its common sense and presence of mind!

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