The Market · A tale from Kalila and Dimna

The Collared Dove

A rat gnaws through the knots of a net surrounding a flock of collared doves.

From a tree, a crow watched a hunter spread a net, scatter grain over it, and hide nearby. The crow stayed to watch.

Soon a dove known as the Collared Dove arrived, leading a flock. They saw the grain but missed the net, and landed to feed. Every one of them was caught.

Each struggled in a different direction, trying to escape alone, while the delighted hunter drew closer. The more each dove struggled on her own, the more tangled the net became.

A rat gnaws through the knots of a net surrounding a flock of collared doves.

The Collared Dove urged her companions to act together, each caring as much for the others’ escape as for her own. They beat their wings at once, lifting the net from the ground.

They flew with it while the hunter ran behind, waiting for them to tire. The Collared Dove looked ahead and suggested they fly towards the trees and buildings, where he would lose sight of them.

Then she remembered a friend, a rat whose burrow she knew. His teeth could do what their captive wings could not.

A rat gnaws through the knots of a net surrounding a flock of collared doves.

The flock disappeared from the hunter’s sight. He gave up and turned back, while the crow followed to see how their plan would end.

The doves landed beside the rat’s burrow. The Collared Dove called to him; recognising her voice, he came out. When he saw what had happened, he began gnawing at the knots around her.

She asked him to free her companions first. She repeated the request until he asked why she insisted. Did she not want to be free herself? She stayed where she was, the net across her wings, waiting to be sure the flock would be safe.

A rat gnaws through the knots of a net surrounding a flock of collared doves.

She explained that she was responsible for those who had followed her and helped her escape. If he freed her first, she feared he might grow tired before reaching the others. If she remained until the end, she knew his friendship would carry him through the work.

The rat admired her loyalty. He gnawed through the knots one after another until all the other doves were free, then released the Collared Dove.

She and her companions returned to their homes. Flight had carried them away from danger; a friend without wings had completed their escape.

Reflection

Different abilities work together here: wing beside wing, then a friend’s teeth. The leader’s loyalty appears in her resolve to see even the last of her companions safely free.

What burden might grow lighter if different abilities came together, instead of one person carrying it alone?

Alrewaq
Read as text

From a tree, a crow watched a hunter spread a net, scatter grain over it, and hide nearby. The crow stayed to watch.

Soon a dove known as the Collared Dove arrived, leading a flock. They saw the grain but missed the net, and landed to feed. Every one of them was caught.

Each struggled in a different direction, trying to escape alone, while the delighted hunter drew closer. The more each dove struggled on her own, the more tangled the net became.

The Collared Dove urged her companions to act together, each caring as much for the others’ escape as for her own. They beat their wings at once, lifting the net from the ground.

They flew with it while the hunter ran behind, waiting for them to tire. The Collared Dove looked ahead and suggested they fly towards the trees and buildings, where he would lose sight of them.

Then she remembered a friend, a rat whose burrow she knew. His teeth could do what their captive wings could not.

The flock disappeared from the hunter’s sight. He gave up and turned back, while the crow followed to see how their plan would end.

The doves landed beside the rat’s burrow. The Collared Dove called to him; recognising her voice, he came out. When he saw what had happened, he began gnawing at the knots around her.

She asked him to free her companions first. She repeated the request until he asked why she insisted. Did she not want to be free herself? She stayed where she was, the net across her wings, waiting to be sure the flock would be safe.

She explained that she was responsible for those who had followed her and helped her escape. If he freed her first, she feared he might grow tired before reaching the others. If she remained until the end, she knew his friendship would carry him through the work.

The rat admired her loyalty. He gnawed through the knots one after another until all the other doves were free, then released the Collared Dove.

She and her companions returned to their homes. Flight had carried them away from danger; a friend without wings had completed their escape.

Reflection

Different abilities work together here: wing beside wing, then a friend’s teeth. The leader’s loyalty appears in her resolve to see even the last of her companions safely free.

What burden might grow lighter if different abilities came together, instead of one person carrying it alone?

Alrewaq
About this story & sources

An English retelling of Alrewaq’s Arabic adaptation of the opening episode of The Collared Dove in Kalila and Dimna, in Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ’s Arabic version. This episode ends with the flock’s escape; the original chapter continues with other stories of friendship. The work passed through Indian and Persian traditions before its Arabic rendering. This is a literary tale, not a historical event.