There was a city called Mahilaropyam in the south not far off from where was a large banyan tree. Many species of birds came there to eat the tree’s fruit. In the hollow of the great tree lived poisonous reptiles like snakes and scorpions. Travellers found the tree a great shelter in their journeys. Once a hunter spread seeds near the tree to attract the birds. Meanwhile, Chitragriva, king of doves, saw the seeds from a distance and landed there with his retinue of one thousand doves. They came to eat the seeds and soon the hunter spread his net and trapped all of them. Chitragriva and his retinue, however, kept their cool in the face of danger. He appealed to his friends not to panic. "Let us fly together and land elsewhere where the hunter cannot reach us. We can then plan a strategy to get out of this net. If we don’t fly now, we are all doomed," said Chitragriva. Thereupon, all of them flew together.

The hunter followed the flight of the doves and when he lost sight of the birds, the hunter gave up and went home ruing that he had lost his net also.

Then the king of the doves told his friends, "The hunter has disappeared. Let us all now fly towards Mahilaropyam where I have a friend Hiranyaka, who is a rat. He is our only hope." The birds, heeding the advice of the king, flew to the fort of Hiranyaka in Mahilaropyam.

"I am your friend Chitragriva, king of the doves. Come out soon.", said the king.

Hiranyaka came out and was happy to see Chitragriva with his retinue and asked what was the matter.

"All of us are trapped in this net because of our weakness for food. Come at once and free us from this trap," urged Chitragriva.

With the help of his servants, the rat then bit off the entire net and all the doves came out.

Moral
We must not lose our presence of mind in trouble.