Once upon a time, a sage Salankayana was doing penance at the bank of the river. During
his penance, a female mouse came there, running away from the wicked bird. The female mouse
then prayed Salankayana, “O sage, please give me shelter in your hermitage. Otherwise, this
wicked bird will kill me.”
The female mouse's prayer moved the sage but he thought that if he took her home,
people would laugh at him. So, he turned the mouse into a beautiful girl and took her home.
“Who is this beautiful girl?” asked the sage's wife. Where did you bring her from?”
“She is a female mouse. She needed protection from wicked bird. I turned her into a girl
and brought her home. I will make her a mouse again,” said the sage.
“Please don't do that. Let this mouse be a girl.” pleaded his wife, “You have saved her life
and therefore you have become her father. I don't have a child. Since you are her father, she
becomes my daughter.” The sage accepted her plea.
The girl grew into a beautiful woman and became an eligible bride. Salankayana told his wife,
“The girl has come of age. It is not proper for her to remain in our house.
“It?s all right. Look for a boy,” said his wife.
Salankayana immediately summoned the Sun and told him, “This is my daughter. If she is willing
to marry you, get ready to marry her.”
He then showed the Sun to his daughter and asked her if she would marry him. She said that the
Sun was very hot and she would prefer someone else. The sage then summoned the God of
Clouds, the God of Wind and the God of Mountains. The girl rejected every one of them on one
ground or the other.
Then the God of Mountains told the sage, “The most suitable candidate for your daughter
is a mouse. He is more powerful than I am.”
The sage then turned her into a mouse and gave her away to a king of mice in marriage.
Salankayana murmured: “Crow is a crow and cannot become an owl!! This girl is a mouse, and the mouse she will be!!!”
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