Four Brothers of Harmony

They wanted to know which one of them was the eldest and therefore what kind of respect they should owe to one another.
They chose a particular tree as a point of reference.
The elephant and the monkey remembered that they had seen that tree when it was as the same height as themselves.
The hare remembered drinking some drops of water from its leaves when the tree had only 2 leaves and the bird remembered he had seen the seed of that very tree.
Having thus acknowledged the age of each of them, they decided from this day to move around and to carry each other with due respect the eldest on their own shoulder
so, the elephant below, the bird at the very top, the monkey and the hare in the middle.
They devoted their entire life to virtuous and to uphold the 5 fundamental precepts:
– not to kill – not to steal – not to lie – not to have sexual misconduct – not to drink alcohol
they found out that it brought them great benefits and decided to teach this virtueos qualities to other animals as well
As a result, a wonderful harmony prevailed in the entire jungle and consequently peace and prosperity ruled over the kingdom too.
One day, the king and the queen and Its court went to visit a wiseman to find out the reasons behind the happiness that was prevailing in the entire kingdom.
The wiseman (or holy man) explained them that it was due to the virtuous conduct of the animals living in the jungle.
The king and its ministers expressed their wish to go and meet the animals.
The wiseman replied that it was not necessary and that, if their wish was to maintain prosperity and harmony for benefits of all, they should follow the noble ideals of the jungle animals. That is exactly what happened for the greater good of all.
….jungle animals, they did so for the greater good of all.