Once upon a time, there was an old vulture living on a tree. Along with him, there were many other birds who were living there too. As the vulture was old and could not hunt for food, the other birds shared their food with him and in return, he would look after their young ones when they went out to hunt for food. So, the old vulture who was also blind would stay and look after the young ones as their parents hunted for food. This went on for many days.
One day, a cat was walking under this tree and he saw that the tree had many nests and also heard the chirping of young birds. He decided to feast on all of them and so he climbed the tree. But once he reached the top, the old vulture sensed the presence of an intruder and stopped him as he was about to reach the young birds. But as the vulture was blind, he was looking here and there and then the cat came to know that he was blind. So, he decided to approach the situation in a careful manner.
The old vulture sensed that the cat posed a danger to the young ones and so he asked him to get out from the tree, but the cat was cunning and he said that he had come to meet him, in order to learn many spiritual lessons from him. The vulture was now starting to get confused and the flattery of the cat was beginning to have an effect on him. Next, the cat said that he would pose no threat to the birds as he had abstained from eating meat for more than a year. With this, the cat had successfully flattered the old vulture and soon as the days went, they became good friends. In this time, the cat noted and kept a track of all the things that took place in the tree. He always came after all the birds left and he left before all the birds arrived. So no one knew that he was friends with the vulture. The vulture too never suspected anything as the cat was growing closer to his nefarious goal.
Many days went with the cat discussing spiritual matters along with the old vulture and soon the day he was looking forward to, came. The old vulture was asleep and the young birds were roaming on the branches. The cat gobbled them up one by one and collected all the bones. After eating all the young birds, he took all the bones and after entering the old vulture’s room, he spread the bones all across the bed and his room. The cat then fled from the tree.
When the birds came back from their food hunt, they found the young ones to be missing and so they searched everywhere in the tree for the young ones and finally they decided to enter the old vulture’s room where he was sleeping. To their dismay, they found small bones everywhere and jumped to the conclusion that he was the one who had devoured their young ones. Without wasting a moment, they dragged him out and after viciously attacking him, they pushed him down from the tree. The old vulture who was unable to fly, fell down to his death. He paid the price for blindly trusting a total stranger.
Moral - One should never trust a complete stranger and should importantly never fall for flattery that is sure to be used as a means of deception. If one falls for such tricks, he is sure to experience undesirable consequences like the old vulture.