Saturn and Indra

Indra, the king of the gods, and Saturn, another god, were one day quarreling bitterly over their supremacy. Each one felt that he was superior to the other. Indra said, “I am the king of the gods. Naturally I am superior to you. Everybody bows to me, so definitely I am superior.”

Saturn said, “You! Everybody is afraid of me. Nobody wants to come under my influence. So, am I not superior if everybody is afraid of me?”

Indra said, “No, no, no! I am greater; I am the greatest of all because everybody surrenders to me.”

Saturn said, “Everybody is afraid of me. Nobody wants to come near me.”

Like this, Indra was bragging and Saturn was bragging. Finally Saturn said, “Look, tomorrow I am going to capture you and destroy you. Only if I fail to keep my promise will you be able to say that you are superior to me. Otherwise, the whole world will know that I am superior.”

Indra said, “Don’t brag, don’t brag. Tomorrow I will see if you can capture and destroy me!”

The following day, in order to escape from Saturn, Indra went into the forest. The whole day he spent hiding in the forest. Then in the evening he came to Saturn and said, “Look, you could not capture me; you could not destroy me. So am I not superior?”

Saturn said, “You fool, you fool! Did I not tell you that everybody is afraid of me? If you were as strong as I am, then why did you hide in the forest? If you had been superior or even equal to me, you would not have hidden in the forest. So here is the proof that you are afraid of me and acknowledge my supremacy!”