The Serpent and the Rat

A snake-charmer once caught a serpent and put it into a cane basket. Then he caught a rat and put it into the basket, too and said "There! That should make a fine meal for my serpent".
But when the serpent came near the rat inside the basket, to eat it, the rat said "Please spare my life! I can free you".
The serpent was amused. He said "How can you succeed where I have failed. Besides, I am terribly hungry". "Then what's the use of eating me? I can hardly satisfy your hunger. If you spare my life, I can lead you out to get all the food you need, better food perhaps, frogs, lizards, plumper rats than me....", the rat said. The serpent thought "He is right. Besides, I can eat him as well, later". So he said to the rat "All right. I will not eat you. Tell me how you can get me out". The rat replied "I shall chant a mantra sitting on your head. As soon as it is over I shall call you. Till then you should close your eyes and stay still". "I will do as you say. But please wait for me outside", said the serpent.

The serpent then closed his eyes. The rat jumped onto his head...gnawed a hole in the box...and escaped through it. A little later the serpent opened his eyes and ....he too slid out of the hole in the box. He thought "Ah! Its good to be free. But I am hungry. Where is the rat?". He looked everywhere but in vain, He couldn't find the rat and said to himself "The wretch has run away! But I will find him soon".

A few days later, the snake found the hole in which the rat was living. He shouted from outside the hole to the rat "O rat, why did you run away before I could thank you? Come out now. Aren't we friends?". The rat knew that the serpent was pretending to be nice to him and so he said "We are not. You are my enemy and will eat me up. I pretended to be your friend only to save my life. Friendship is only between equals. I am not your equal, so we can never be friends".
The snake didn't speak back because he knew that the rat was too wise for him and went away to find something else to eat.