A wise old swallow lived on a peepal tree along with many other young birds. One beautiful summer morning, they were all flying in the sky. Way down below, they saw a farmer planting hemp seeds on his farm. Now, this farmer used to make huge nets out of hemp creepers and used them to trap birds. The old swallow knew this and warned the other birds. The wise swallow told them to collect every seed that the farmer had sown otherwise they would be in deep trouble later. But the other birds were lazy. They did not heed his advice and continued to play all day. They did not pick up the hemp seeds.
After some months, the farmer made a net out of the hemp that had now grown into big plants. He cast the net in the jungle and all the birds except for the wise swallow were caught in it. They struggled to free themselves but the net was strong and they couldn’t escape.
The wise swallow then said to them, “The net is made of the same hemp seeds I had asked you to pick when the farmer was sowing them. These have now grown and the farmer has made a net from its creepers to catch you. But you did not listen to me then.”
The other birds realised what a big mistake they had made by not obeying the wise swallow.