As with any fabliau, this volume errs on the side of entertainment at the expense of practicality. this is to be expected from the framing conceit: a wise man promises to teach the recalcitrant young princes virtue, so naturally he does it in the most entertaining way possible. As such, there is as large a share of contradiction as there is in the body of aphorisms as a whole. A stitch in time saves nine, but don't count your chickens before they're hatched. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, but beware of Greeks bearing gifts. Etc.
In the Panchatantra, this fault is almost glaring. Should you make use of your enemy, or distrust them? Be clever and sneaky, or honest and forthright? There are stories to support both sides of every argument, and no conclusion seems reachable. Entertaining, but hardly instructive.
Until, that is, the fifth and final tantra. Under the heading "Action Without Due Consideration", we find a series of stories almost satirizing the exact phenomenon observed above. In several variations, learned men come to ruin because they overrely on the shastras to solve their problems. What a lesson! The narrator:
Promised to teach the dull-witted princes everything they needed.
Proceeded to offer four books of colorful but contradictory lessons.
Tie it up with how colorful but contradictory lessons are dangerous, and how real wisdom is to just be good and use common sense.
Misson accomplished! This too is foma! All hail Bokonon!
In other words, this book was fun and engaging on its own, easily as good as Aesop or La Fontaine--but it ended up being even better because it knew to wink at itself, and address the central questions on a much deeper level than could be done with a simple fable.
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