Mister Duly — The Winning of Friends (Book II of Panchatantra)

I was always interested in the book Panchatantra and the amazing stories it has from childhood, so I started reading about it again after seeing a message on Whatsapp (from my dad) and took some notes.

Here is the translation I started reading

https://sriyogaashram.com/ebook/Panchatantra%20-%20Arthur%20W%20Ryder.pdf

Translated from the Sanskrit by Arthur W. Ryder in 1925 (Professor of Sanskrit at the University of California, Berkeley)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_W._Ryder

Taken as a whole, Ryder’s work as a translator is probably the finest ever accomplished by an American. It is also probably the finest body of translation from the Sanskrit ever accomplished by one man, if translation beregarded as a branch of literary art, not merely as a faithful rendering of the meaning of the original text.

5 books are there in Panchatantra (as the name suggests)

1. The loss of friends
2. The winning of friends
3. Crows and owls
4. Loss of gains
5. Ill-considered action

The first three books have a framing story at its center and several inserted stories inside the framing story.

The second book has as its framing story, the tale of the friendship of the crow, the mouse, the turtle, and the deer, whose names are Swift, Gold, Slow, and Spot (Also known as Laghupatanaka, Hiranyaka, Mandaraka and Chitranga).

In this Book II, there is an inserted story called “Mister Duly”

Gold (the mouse) recites the story of “Mister Duly” (which is really interesting and thrilling in itself)

The essence of this story is that

What’s duly his, a man receives;

This law not even God can break;

My heart is not surprised, nor grieves;

For what is mine, no strangers take.

Easy to read version of “Mister Duly” can be found here http://www.moralstoriesforkids.com/panchatantra/mister-duly/

After Gold (the mouse) recites the above story “Mister Duly”, Slow (the turtle) starts saying (after some more narrative) that:

Nor must you, in view of the aphorism,

“Since teeth and nails and men and hair, If out of place, are ugly there“

draw the coward’s conclusion:
Let no man leave his native place.

For to the competent there is no distinction between native and foreign land. You must have heard the saying:

Brave, learned, fair,

Where’er they roam, Without delay

Are quite at home.