There lived a king cobra in a forest. He fed on birds eggs, lizards, rats, frogs, rabbits and other small creatures. Every day he ate a lot of small creatures and then lazed away the whole day. In course of time he grew big in size, and his pride grew bigger still.
One day the cobra thought, “I am the mightiest animal in the forest. I am the king of the forest. Now I must live in a big house that suits my size and status.”
So he selected a vary big tree for his new house. There was an ant hill near the tree. The king cobra said, “I don’t want this nuisance here.” So he went to the ant hill and said to the ants, “I am king cobra, the king of this forest. I order you to remove this rubbish from here and go off immediately.”
Other animals trembled in the cobra’s presence. But the tiny ants paid no heed to his threat. This enraged him and he lashed at the ant hill with his tail.
The next moment, thousands of ants streamed out of the ant hill. They climbed all over the cobra’s large body and stung him hard. Thousands of thorny pricks all over his body caused unbearable pain to the mighty cobra. He wriggled and rolled in vain to keep the ants off. He struggled hard for some time and at last died a painful death.
MORAL: PRIDE GOES BEFORE A FALL.