As Laghupatanaka warned that the hunter was drawing near, Hiranyaka bit through the last strand of the net. Chitranga sprang free and disappeared into the forest. The crow flew to the top of a nearby tree, and Hiranyaka slipped into a burrow close by. Mandharaka alone was unable to escape. Before he could reach the safety of the lake, the hunter arrived. He looked first at the empty net and then all around the clearing, but the deer was gone. As he searched in vain, his eyes fell upon the tortoise moving slowly across the ground. "Though the deer has escaped," he thought, "I shall not return empty-handed." He picked up Mandharaka, tied him to his bow with a cord, and set off along the forest path.

From the top of the tree, Laghupatanaka watched everything. As soon as the hunter had gone some distance, he found Hiranyaka and Chitranga and told them what had happened. Hiranyaka listened carefully and then said, "There is only one way to save him." He explained what each of them should do, and without delay they set out.

Chitranga ran ahead of the hunter and lay beside a pond, motionless, as though life had left him. Laghupatanaka settled upon his body and began pecking at him like a crow feeding upon a dead deer. When the hunter came that way, he stopped at once. Leaving his bow upon the ground with the tortoise still tied to it, he hurried towards what he believed was an easy capture.

That was the moment Hiranyaka had been waiting for. He ran swiftly to the bow and gnawed through the cord that bound Mandharaka. As soon as he was free, the tortoise slipped into the water. At the same instant, Laghupatanaka flew into the air, and Chitranga rose from the ground and bounded deep into the forest.

The hunter reached the pond only to find the deer gone. He turned back at once, but the tortoise had disappeared as well. Looking at the empty ground before him, he understood that both had escaped. With nothing left to do, he gathered his bow and net and went on his way.

The four friends met again beside the lake. Mandharaka had been freed, Chitranga had escaped, and the danger had passed. What the hunter could not overcome was not the strength of one creature, but the wisdom and timely action of friends who stood by one another.

Hiranyaka gave the plan, Chitranga accepted the risk, Laghupatanaka kept watch, and Mandharaka trusted his friends completely. None of them could have succeeded alone. Together, they accomplished what seemed impossible.