While I am not typically a fan of short proverbs/poems/riddles included in stories, they fit in really well in these. The writing does a good job of making sure the wording is all relevant and that the story and action continues outside of the proverbs.
The story of The Ungrateful Man caught my attention. I liked the sequence of events and how each character ended up playing a big part. Nobody was insignificant. The story is set up so that the reader is untrusting of the snake, but in the end he ends up being fine and actually helps the Brahman. The warning that the animals give him, saying not to help the man who is stuck in a well, is not immediately shown as true in the story. It begins a feeling of anticipation, knowing that something is off but it is not yet revealed to the reader. I really like that idea of having a character do something "wrong" that everyone tells him not to do, but nothing happens to him immediately. It makes you wonder who is telling the truth.
I also thought it was clever how the story was resolved--with the snake helping the Brahman and the goldsmith being revealed as a trickster.
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Bibliography: From the Panchatantra unit. Story source: The Panchatantra of Vishnu Sharma, translated by Arthur W. Ryder (1925).
Image Information: Well like the one I imagine the characters got stuck in, from Pixabay.
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