Shibi

Shibi

One day long ago there was a little dove flying in a very blue sky. All of a sudden he noticed a huge shadow looming over him. When the little dove looked up he saw the dark piercing eyes of a hawk closing in on him. In despair the dove cried out.

"Shibi, please save me!"

Shibi heard the small dove and saved him from the hawk. The little dove was very grateful. The hawk however, was not as happy. "Alright," the hawk said, "I will not eat this dove." The hawk then turned to Shibi, "Are you okay with me starving now? Are you okay with my family, who is waiting for me back at the nest, also starving?"

"Well, no," Shibi said after a moment of surprise. "I guess I hadn't thought about it like that. Perhaps you could go find someone else to eat, maybe a different dove flying elsewhere."

"Okay, but how is that fair to that dove?" the hawk questioned.

Shibi was quiet for a moment before speaking. "Okay then, maybe you could go find something else to eat, maybe a rat."

"But do you believe that is fair for the rat? Does the rat have less intrinsic value than the dove?" the hawk questioned.

Shibi was stumped again and realized that it wouldn't be fair to subject another animal to the misfortune that he saved the dove from.

Then he thought of an idea. "What if you take the equal amount of flesh from me that you would have obtained from the dove had you eaten it?"

The hawk replied, "I suppose that would be a fair trade."

Since the hawk agreed that this was fair they went to weigh the dove. The dove flew onto one side of the balance and the balance quickly fell to the floor. Shibi was surprised by how much the scale had tipped. One by one they added 100 gram stones to the other side of the scale. No matter how many stones they added however, the scale refused to tip even in the slightest. Finally, they had added well over a hundred thousand stones. Shibi himself stepped onto the scale and even his added weight wasn't enough. Shibi wondered how this could be possible. It was then that he realized the gods had sent the dove to him as a test.

Shibi stepped off the scale and slowly walked towards the hawk.

"I'm so sorry," Shibi said to the hawk. "Even if I were to kill myself and give all of my flesh to you, it would not measure the amount that I took from you when I saved the dove. I really believed I was doing the right thing when I saved the dove."

"I understand," said the hawk, "but every creature has their own capabilities and shortcomings. These place them into the cycle of nature. It is through all of this that a balance is created, a natural order for all living things to take part in."

Shibi was then humbled and vowed to never interfere with the cycle of nature again.

Author's Note:

I really enjoyed reading the story of Shibi. The original version is very similar to the way I told it here in my storybook. Shibi hears the cry of the dove and saves it form the hawk, the hawk is then dismayed because it clearly isn't fair to him. Shibi offers the hawk other options so that he and his family will not have to starve but is unable to justify how that is fair to the other creatures that would have to die instead of the dove. Finally, they decide Shibi should offer some of his own flesh in replacement to that of the dove. When they weigh the dove to determine how much however, they realize that Shibi does not offer substantial enough weight to equate to the dove.

I think this story holds a very special message, one that I often times find myself forgetting. It is easy to sympathize with who we identify to be the "victim" in nature. The smaller, seemingly helpless dove easily tugs at our heartstrings. What we don't see however, is the result of what happens when we choose to save the victim. The hawk starving, it's family being left without adequate nourishment, and so on. There are two sides to every story and what might seem very drastic and sad to us, may only seem that way because we are removed from the situation. It is better to not interfer with these types of interactions and allow nature to take its course.

Shibi

PASHU Animal Tales from Hindu Mythology

Devdutt Pattanaik

Image Source: Wikipedia, Shibi & the Dove