The Camel and His Friends is a short story, which was written as one of the five chapters of beast fables from India called Panchatantra. The story is attributed to a sage named Bidpai, who is thought to be the original narrator. In India, Bidpai is a legendary figure and little is known about him (Khanwalkar). The story was translated into English by Arundhati Khanwalkar and it has been retold in different languages since its composition between 100 BC and AD 500. This paper discusses The Camel and His Friends by highlighting its plot structure and the underlying themes.
The story is about a merchant who is traveling through a jungle while leading his caravan of heavily laden camels. Unfortunately, one of the camels is so fatigued to continue with the journey and thus the merchant decides to leave it behind (Khanwalkar). Luckily, the jungle is laden with fresh green grass and thus the camel slowly gains its strength and being herbivorous, feeds on the lush grass for survival. In the process, a lion, the king of the jungle, leopard, fox, and crow find the lost camel. He narrates to them what happened and out of sympathy, the lion promises to take care of him. However, one day the lion is injured in a duel with an elephant, and thus he retreats to his cave for recovery. Meanwhile, his friends – fox, leopard, and crow, try their best to hunt for the injured king but they are unsuccessful. The fox hatches a plot to sacrifice the camel and when he presents his proposal to the lion and his friends, they all agree unanimously. Ultimately, the camel is fooled and sacrificed by his alleged friends.
This story follows a narrative text structure with story elements, such as setting, characters, and conflict. The setting is in a jungle and the main characters are the camel, lion, cow, fox, leopard, and merchant. Each character plays a central role in bringing out the meaning of the story. The author uses generic and simple words to pass the message because the focus is on the meaning behind the words, as opposed to the words themselves. A narrative text structure follows a unique plot, which starts with orientation –background information, before progressing into a conflict whereby the storyline is developed and ends with a resolution in which the underlying problem is solved, and these three parts are summarized as rising action (precipitating incident), climax, and falling action (resolution) (“Narrative Text”).
The orientation of the story starts with the merchant’s journey through the jungle leading to the abandonment of the camel after he is overcome by fatigue. The background of the story goes on to highlight how the camel recovers, found by the lion, and makes new friends in the jungle. The rising of action occurs when the lion is injured heralding the conflict of the story. The leopard, crow, and fox are in a dilemma because they cannot find a way to feed the wounded king no matter how hard they try. Therefore, in his cunning ways, the fox comes up with a well-thought plan to solve this problem. In the falling action phase whereby a resolution is made, the camel is ultimately sacrificed and the lion recovers. Therefore, the dilemma is solved and the intended message of the fable is delivered successfully.
Fables are meant to deliver certain moral lessons. In this case, the story is meant to warn its audience to be careful about the kind of friends one chooses to have in life. The camel does not belong to the jungle – he is a desert animal living under the domestication of human beings. Therefore, thinking that he could make friends with wild animals was a mistake. This explains why he is ultimately sacrificed by being fooled that he is laying down his life for the noble purpose of saving the king. Therefore, the author seeks to highlight the importance of choosing friends wisely.
In addition, the story carries the theme of betrayal. From the very beginning, the fable is all about betrayal with the camel being the victim. First, the merchant betrays the camel by deciding to leave him behind after being fatigued. Normally, it would be expected that the merchant would take care of his camels and help the tired one by feeding him and allowing for enough rest. However, he deliberately chooses to leave the camel behind, which underscores betrayal. Similarly, the camel is betrayed by his alleged friends in the jungle and he is ultimately killed and eaten.
In conclusion, The Camel and His Friends is a fable about betrayal with the underlying message to the audience being the importance of choosing friends wisely and cautiously. The fable follows the narrative text structure to build on a plot with rising action, climax, and falling action. The conflict arises when the lion is injured and resolved when the camel is fooled, betrayed, and sacrificed.
Works Cited
Khanwalkar, Arundhati. The Camel and His Friends, 2003. Web.
“Narrative Text: Definition, Purposes, Generic Structures, Language Features.” British Course, 2017, Web.