Indian Fairy Tales · Chapter
Pride Goeth Before a Fall explained
Ten cloth merchants returning home with their earnings are ambushed by three robbers in a forest.
What happens
Ten cloth merchants returning home with their earnings are ambushed by three robbers in a forest. The robbers strip them of all possessions and force them to dance. One clever merchant uses a secret trade language in a song to coordinate his fellow merchants, who then overpower and tie up the robbers, reclaiming their goods and weapons.
Themes in this chapter
Cunning and Wisdom
The clever merchant uses his wit and secret trade language to outsmart the robbers, turning a humiliating situation into a victory.
Greed and Its Consequences
The robbers' greed and pride in their easy conquest lead them to become overconfident, allowing the merchants to regain the upper hand.
Characters to notice
- Bidpai
The clever leader among the ten merchants who devises the plan to overcome the robbers using secret trade language.
Key passages
“We are enty men, They are erith men: If each erith man, Surround eno man Eno man remains. Tâ, tai, tôm, tadingana.”
We are ten men, they are three men: if each three men surround one man, one man remains. Now, act!
The clever merchant's coded song instructs his fellow traders to form groups of three to overpower each robber, leaving one to tie them up.