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BOOK OF GOOD OOUISELS. 
 
CORNELL UNIVERSrrY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 rrHACA,N.Y. 14853 
 
 South Asia Collection 
 
 K^^OCH'^'" ■ ^Y 
 
:".e Lion, the Jac-^als, aiiJ the Bull. 
 
THE 
 
 BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS : 
 
 FROM THE SANSKRIT 
 
 "HITOPADE^ A." 
 
 EDWIN ARNOLD, M.A., 
 
 (OF xmiv. COLL., OXFORD), 
 
 lATE PRINCIPAL OF THE POOSA COLLEGE; AUTHOR OF " GRISELDA, AND .OTHEP. 
 
 POEMS;" "THE EUTERPE OF HERODOTUS;" ETC. ETC. 
 
 WJTH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HARRISON WEIR. 
 
 LONDON: 
 SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL. 
 
 .V.DCCC.LXI. 
 
IReprinted, vMll additions, from " Tim Press: 
 
g£xUali0it. 
 
 €.0 sou, Ireat SUaift — to tojoni iesilre so tosll? — 
 ffiruc fflounsdior anlr IrieJr, at ebCTj; s^tft, 
 
 E irinff ms " Coofe of ffiounseig : " let it tsll 
 Eargcncss of lobe bs littleness of gift : 
 
 anir talte tjis groiDtJ of foreian sSies front me, 
 (a seljolar's tjanfts for gentle 5elp in toil,) 
 
 ffiSaijose leaf, " IJoug^ Irar&," liSe JSilton's fl^oemong. 
 " Sears a irig^f gollien floiner, if not in tjis soil." 
 
ILLUSTEATIONS. 
 
 The Lion, the Jackals, and the Bull To face Title. 
 
 The Monkey and the Wedge „ p. 49 
 
 The Old Hare and the Elephants . . . ., p. 87 
 
 The D\ed Jackal . . „ p. 97 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PKErACB . .IX 
 
 IxTRODUCTIO^ 1 
 
 THE WINNING OF FRIENDS. 
 
 1. The Story of the Tiger and the Traveller . 9 
 
 ■2. The Story of the Jackal, Deer, and Crow . . 16 
 
 3. The Story of the Vulture, the Cat, and the Birds . 18 
 
 4. The Story of the Dead Game and the Jackal . 33 
 
 5. The Prince and the Wife of the Merchant's Son 37 
 
 6. The Story of the Old Jackal and the Elephant 39 
 
 THE PARTING OF FRIENDS. 
 
 1. The Story of the Lion, the Jackals, and the Bull 45 
 
 2. The Story of the Monkey and the Wedge . 49 
 
 3. The Story of the Washerman's Jackass . 50 
 
 4. The Story of the Cat who served the Lion . . 58 
 
 5. The Story of the Terrible Bell . . . .61 
 
 6. The Story of the Prince and the Procuress who suffered 
 
 for their own Faults . . . .65 
 
 7. The Story of the Black Snake and the Golden Chain . 69 
 
 8. The Story of the Lion and the Old Hare 70 
 
 9. The Story of the Wagtail and the Sea . . 74 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 WAK. 
 
 1. The Battle of the Swans and Peacocks . . .82 
 
 2. The Story of the Weaver Birds and the Monkeys . 83 
 
 3. The Story of the Old Hare and the Elephants . 8« 
 
 4. The Story of the Heron and the Crow . . 89 
 
 5. The Story of the Appeased Wheelwright . .91 
 
 6. The Story of the Dyed Jackal . 96 
 
 7. The Story of the Faithful Kajpoot . 101 
 
 PEACE. 
 
 1. The Treaty between the Peacocks and the Swans 114 
 
 2. The Story of the Tortoise and the Geese . 115 
 
 3. The Story of Fate and the Three Fishes . .116 
 
 4. The Story of the Unabashed Wife . . .116 
 
 5. The Story of the Herons and the Mongoose . .118 
 
 6. The Story of the Eecluse and the Mouse . .121 
 
 7. The Story of the Crane and the Crab . . . 122 
 
 8. The Story of the Brahman and the Pans . .124 
 
 9. The Duel of the Giants ... 125 
 
 10. The Story of the Brahman and the Goat . 130 
 
 11. The Story of the Camel, the Lion, and his Court . 131 
 
 12. The Story of the Frogs and the Old Serpent . . 135 
 
 Notes .... . 145 
 
PEE PAG E. 
 
 A STORY-BOOK from the Sanslurit at least possesses the 
 minor merit of novelty. The " perfect language " has 
 been hitherto regarded as the province of Scholars, and 
 few of these even have found time or taste to search its 
 treasures. And yet among them is the key to the 
 heart of modern India — as well as the splendid record 
 of her ancient Gods and glories. The hope of Hin- 
 dostan lies in the intelHgent interest of England. 
 Whatever avails to dissipate misconceptions between 
 them, and to enlarge their intimacy, is a gain to 
 both Peoples ; and to this end the present volume 
 aspires, in an humble degree, to contribute. 
 
 The Hitopadesci is a work of high antiquity, and 
 extended popularity. The prose is doubtless as old as 
 
X PKEFACE. 
 
 our own era; but the intercalated verses and proverbs 
 compose a selection from writings of an age extremely 
 remote. The Mahahharata and the textual Veds are 
 of those quoted ; to the first of which Professor M. Wil- 
 liams (in his admirable edition of the Nala, 1860) 
 assigns a date of 350 B.C., while he claims for the Rig- 
 Veda an antiquity as high as 1300 B.C. The Hitojmdesa 
 may thus be fairly styled " The Father of all Fables ;" 
 for from its numerous translations have come Esop 
 and Pilpay, and in later days Reineke Fuchs. Origi- 
 nally compiled in Sansb-it, it was rendered, by order 
 of Nushiravan, in the sixth century a.d. into Persic. 
 From the Persic it passed, a.d. 850, into the Arabic, 
 and thence into Hebrew and Greek. In its o-mi land 
 it obtained as wide a circulation. The Emperor Acbar, 
 impressed with the wisdom of its maxims and the 
 ingenuity of its apologues, commended the work of 
 translating it to his own Vizier, Abdul Fazel. That 
 Minister accordingly put the book into a familiar style, 
 and published it with explanations, under the title of 
 the Criterion of Wisdom. The Emperor had also 
 suggested the abridgment of the long series of shlokes 
 which here and there interrupt the narrative, and the 
 
PREFACE. xi 
 
 Vizier fouud this advice sound, and followed it, like 
 the present Translator. To this day, in India, the 
 Hitopadesa, under other names (as the Anvdri Stihaili*), 
 retains the delighted attention of young and old, and 
 has some representative in all the Indian vernaculars. 
 A work so well esteemed in the East cannot be unwel- 
 come to Western readers, who receive it here, a con- 
 densed but faithful transcript of sense and manner. 
 
 As often as an Oriental allusion, or a name in Hindoo 
 mythology, seemed to ask some explanation for the 
 EngHsh reader, notes have been appended, bearing 
 reference to the page. In their compilation, and gene- 
 rally, acknowledgment is due to Professor Johnson's 
 excellent version and edition of the Hitopadesa, and to 
 Mr. Muir's Sanskrit Texts. 
 
 A residence in India, and close intercourse with the 
 Hindoos, has given the Author a lively desire to subserve 
 their advancement. No one listens now to the preci- 
 pitate ignorance which would set aside as " heathenish" 
 the high civilization of this great race ; but justice is 
 not yet done to their past development and present 
 
 * " The lights of Canopus," a Pci-sian paraplirase ; as the Khirad 
 Afroz, " the lamp of the Understanding," is in Hindustani. 
 
XU PREFACE. 
 
 capacities. If the wit, the morality, and the philo- 
 sophy of these "beasts of India" (so faithfully ren- 
 derecl by Mr. Harrison Weir,) surprise any vigorous 
 mind into further exploration of her literature, and 
 deeper sense of our responsibility in her government, 
 the Author will be repaid. 
 
 E. A. 
 
 Framfield. Sussex, March, 1861. 
 
TEE BOOK Of GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 INTRODXJCTION. 
 
 Jmtour io §x\\mlxP (Boi of W-Mmi 
 
 This book of Counsel read, and you shall see, 
 Pair speech and Sanskrit lore, and Policy. 
 
 On the banks of the holy river Ganges there stood a 
 city named PataHputra (-). The King of it was a good 
 King and a vii-tuous, and his name was Sudarsana. It 
 chanced one day that he overheard a certain person 
 reciting these verses — 
 
 " Wise men, holding wisdom highest, scorn delights, as false as 
 fair. 
 Daily Uve they as Death's fingers twined aheady in their hair. 
 
 1 
 
2 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 Truly, riclier than all riches, better than the best of gain, 
 Wisdom is, unbought, secure — once won, none loseth her again. 
 
 Bringing dark things into daylight, solving doubts that vex the 
 
 mind. 
 Like an open eye is "Wisdom — he that hath her not is blind." 
 
 Hearing these the King became disquieted, knovrang 
 that his own sons were gaining no ■«"isdom, nor reading 
 the Sacred Writings ('), but altogether going in the 
 ■wrong way ; and he repeated this verse to himself — 
 
 " Childless art thou (*) ? dead thy children ? leaving thee to 
 want and dool ? 
 Less thy misery than his is, who is father to a fool." 
 
 And again this, — 
 
 " One wise son makes glad his father, forty fools avail him not : 
 One moon silvers all that darkness which the silly stars did 
 dot." 
 
 " And it has been said," reflected he, — 
 
 " Ease and health, obeisant children, wisdom, and a fair-voiced 
 wife — 
 Thus, great King ! are counted up the five felicities of life. 
 
 For the son the sire is honoured ; though the bow-cane bendeth 
 
 true. 
 Let the strained string crack in using, and what service shall 
 
 it do?" 
 
 " Nevertheless," mused the King, " I know it is ui-ged 
 that human efibrts are useless : as, for instance, — 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 " That which will not be, will not be — and what is to be, will be: 
 Why not drink this easy physic, antidote of misery ? " 
 
 " But then that comes from idleness, with people who 
 will not do what they should do. Rather, 
 
 " Nay ! and faint not, idly sigliing, ' Destiny is mightiest,' 
 Sesammn (*) holds oil in plenty, but it yieldeth none unpressed. 
 
 Ah ! it is the Coward's babble, ' Fortune taketh, Fortune gave; * 
 Fortune ! rate her like a master, and she serves thee like a 
 slave." 
 
 " For indeed, 
 
 " Two-fold is the life we live in — Fate and Will together run : 
 Two wheels bear life's chariot onward — will it move on only 
 one ? " 
 
 "And 
 
 " Look ! the clay dries into iron, but the potter moulds the clay : 
 Destiny to-day is master — Man was master yesterday." 
 
 " So verily, 
 
 " Worthy ends come not by wishing. Wouldst tliou ? Up, and 
 win it, then ! 
 While the hungry lion slumbers, not a deer comes to his den." 
 
 Having concluded his reflections, the Raja gave orders 
 to assemble a meeting of learned men. Then said he 
 in their midst, — 
 
 " Hear now, my Pundits (^) ! Is there one among 
 you so wise that he will undertake to give the second 
 birth of Wisdom to these my sons, by teaching them the 
 
 1—2 
 
4 THE BOOK OP GOOD COUXSELS. ■ 
 
 Books of Policy ; for they have never yet read the 
 Sacred Writings, and are altogether going in the wrong 
 road ; and ye know that 
 
 " Sillj glass, in splendid settings, something of the gold may gain ; 
 And in company of ivise ones, fools to wisdom maj attain." 
 
 Then uprose a great Sage, hy name Vishnu- Sarman, 
 learned in the principles of Policy as is the angel of 
 the planet Jupiter C) himself, and he said, — 
 
 " ;My Lord King, I will undertake to ' teach these 
 princes Policy, seeing they are horn of a great house ; 
 for— 
 
 " Labours spent on the unworthy, of reward the labourer balk ; 
 Like the parrot, teach the heron twenty times, he will not talk." 
 
 " But in this royal family the offspring are royal-minded, 
 and in six moons I will engage to make youi- Majesty's 
 sons comprehend Policy." 
 
 The Eaja replied, with condescension : — 
 
 " On the eastern moimtains lying, common things shine in the 
 
 sun, 
 And by learned minds enlightened, lower minds may show as 
 
 one.'' 
 
 " And you, worshipful sir, are competent to teach my 
 children the rules of Policy." 
 
 So saying, with much graciousness, he gave the 
 Princes into the charge of Vishnu- Sarman ; and that 
 
INTRODUCTIOJr. 5 
 
 sage, by wnj of introduction, spake to tlie Princes, as 
 tliey sat at ease on the balcony of the palace, in this 
 wise : — 
 
 " Hear now, my Princes ! for the delectation of your 
 Highnesses, I purpose to tell the tale of the Crow, the 
 Tortoise, the Deer, and the Mouse." 
 
 " Pray, su-," said the King's sons, " let us hear it." 
 
 Vishnu-Sarman answered, — 
 
 " It begins with the Winning of Friends ; and this 
 is the first verse of it : — 
 
 " Sans way or wealth, wise friends their purpose gain — 
 The !Mouse, Crow, Deer, and Tortoise make this plain." 
 
THE WINNING OF TEIENDS. 
 
 " Sans way or wealth, wise friends their purpose gain — 
 The Mouse, Crow, Deer, and Tortoise make this plai?!."" 
 
 " However was that ?" asked the Princes- 
 Vishnu- Sarman replied : — 
 
 " On the banks of the Godavery there stood a large 
 silk-cotton-tree (*), and thither at night, from all quarters 
 and regions, the birds came to roost. Now once, when 
 the night was just spent, and his Radiance the Moon (^), 
 Lover of the white lotus, was about to retire behind the 
 western hills, a Crow (^"j who perched there, ' Light o' 
 Leap ' by name, upon awakening, saw to his great wonder 
 a fowler approaching — a second God of Death Q-^). 
 The sight set him reflecting, as he flew off uneasily to 
 
8 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS, 
 
 follow up tlie man's movements, and lie began to think 
 ^vllat mischief this ill-omened apparition foretold. 
 
 '• For, a thousand thoughts of sorrow, and a hundred things of 
 dread. 
 By the ^Tiso imheeded, trouble day by day the foolish head." 
 
 And yet in this life it must be that 
 
 "Of the day's impending dangers, Sickness, Death, and Misery, 
 One will be; the wise man waking, ponders which that one 
 will be." 
 
 Presently the fowler fixed a net, scattered grains of rice 
 about, and withdrew to hide. At this moment ' Speckle- 
 neck,' King of the Pigeons, chanced to be passing 
 through the sky with his Court, and caught sight of the 
 rice-grains. Thereupon the Eing of the Pigeons asked 
 of his rice-losing followers, ' How can there possibly be 
 rice-grains Ipng here in an unfrequented forest ? We 
 will see into it, of course, but We like not the look of it, 
 — love of rice may ruin us, as the Traveller was ruined. 
 
 " All out of longing for a golden bangle ('^), 
 The Tiger, in the mud, the man did mangle." 
 
 " How did that happen ? " asked the Pigeons. 
 
THE AYINNING OF TRIENDS. 
 
 ®hc ^torjT of iln{ gigcii and tln{ i^rawUcr. 
 
 ' Thus,' replied Speckle-neck : ' I was pecldng about 
 one clay in the Deccan forest, and saw an old tiger (^^) 
 sitting newly bathed on the bank of a pool, like a 
 Brahman, and with holy kuskus-grass (^*) in his paws. 
 
 " Ho ! ho ! j'e travellers," he kept calling out, " take 
 this golden bangle ! " 
 
 Presently a covetous feUow ^jassed by and heard 
 him. 
 
 "Ai!" thought he, "this is a bit of luck— but I 
 must not risk my neck for it either. 
 
 " Good things come not out of bad things ; wisely leave a longed- 
 for ill. 
 !X'ectar being mised -n-ith poison serves no purpose but to kUl." 
 
 " But aU gain is got by risk, so I will see into it at 
 least ;" then he called out, " Wliere is thy bangle ?" 
 
 The Tiger stretched forth his paw and exhibited it. 
 
 "Hem!" said the Traveller, "can I trust such a 
 fierce brute as thou art ?" 
 
 " Listen," replied the Tiger, " once, in the days of 
 my cubhood, I know I was veiy wicked. I lulled cows, 
 Brahmans, and men (^^) without number — and I lost my 
 wife and children for it — and haven't kith or kin left. 
 But lately I met a virtuous man who counselled me to 
 
10 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 practise the duty of almsgiTing — and, as tliou seest, I 
 am strict at ablutions and alms. Besides, I am old, 
 and my nails and fangs are gone — so wlio -would mis- 
 trust me ? and I have so far conquered selfishness, that I 
 keep the golden bangle for whoso comes. Thou seemest 
 poor ! I will give it thee. Is it not said, 
 
 " Give to poor men, son of Kunti ('^) — on the wealthy waste 
 not wealth ; 
 Good are simples for the sick man, good for nought to him in 
 health." 
 
 " Wade over the pool, therefore, and take the bangle." 
 Thereupon the covetous Traveller determined to trust 
 
 him, and waded into the pool, where he soon found 
 
 himself plunged in mud, and unable to move. 
 
 " Ho ! ho ! " says the Tiger, " art thou stuck in a 
 
 slough ? stay, I will fetch thee out ! " 
 
 So saying he approached the wretched man and seized 
 
 him — who meanwhile bitterly reflected — 
 
 " Be his Scripture-learning wondrous, yet the cheat will be a 
 cheat ; 
 Be her pasture ne'er so bitter, yet the cow's milk will be 
 sweet." 
 
 And on that verse, too — 
 
 " Trust not water, trust not weapons ; trust not clawed nor 
 horned things ; 
 Neither give thy soul to women, nor thy life to Sons of 
 Kings (")." 
 
THE WINNING OF FRIENDS. 11 
 
 And those others — 
 
 " Look ! the Moon, the silver roamer, from whose splendour 
 
 darkness flies 
 With his starry cohorts marching, like a croTmed king through 
 
 the skies. 
 All the grandeur, all the glory, vanish in. the Dragon's jaw ('^) ; 
 What is written on the forehead, that will be, and nothing 
 
 more." 
 
 Here his meditations were cut short by the Tiger devour- 
 ing him. ' And that,' said Speckle-neck, ' is why we 
 counselled caution. ' 
 
 ' Why, yes ! ' said a certain pigeon, with some pre- 
 sumption, ' but you've read the verse — 
 
 " Comisel in danger ; of it 
 
 Unwarned, be nothing begun. 
 But nobody asks a Prophet 
 
 Shall the risk of a dinner be run ? " 
 
 Hearing that, the Pigeons settled at once ; for we know 
 that 
 
 " Avarice begetteth anger ; blind desires from her begin ; 
 A right fruitfiil mother is she of a countless spa^vn of sin." 
 
 Aud again, 
 
 " Can a golden Deer have being (")? yetTor such the Hero pined : 
 When the cloud of danger hovers, then its shadow dims the 
 mind." 
 
 Presently they were caught in the net. Thereat, 
 
12 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 indeed, they all began to abuse the pigeon by whose 
 suggestion they had been ensnared. It is the old 
 tale! 
 
 " Be second and not first ! — the share's the same 
 If all go well. If not, the Head's to blame." 
 
 And we should remember that 
 
 " Passion -iviU be Slave or Mistress : follow her, she brings to 
 ■woe; 
 Lead her, 'tis the way to Fortune. Choose the path that thou 
 wilt go." 
 
 ■WTien Eng Speckle-neck heard their reproaches, he 
 said, ' Ko, no ! it is no fault of his. 
 
 " When the time of trouble cometh, friends may oftimes irk us 
 most : 
 For the calf at milking-hour the mother's leg is tying-post." 
 
 ' And in disaster, dismay is a coward's quality ; let us 
 rather rely on fortitude, and devise some remedy. How 
 saith the sage ? 
 
 " In good fortune not elated, in ill-fortune not dismayed. 
 Ever eloquent in council, never in the fight aifrayed — 
 Proudly emulous of honour, stedfastly on wisdom set ; 
 Perfect virtues in the nature of a noble soul are met. 
 Whoso hath them, gem and glory of the three wide worlds (-") 
 
 is he; 
 Happy mother she that bore him, she who nursed him on her 
 knee." 
 
 ' Let us do this now directty,' continued the King : ' at 
 
THE WINNING OF FRIENDS. 13 
 
 one moment and with one will, rising under the net, 
 let us fly off with it : for indeed 
 
 " Small things wax exceeding mighty, being cunningly combined : 
 Furious elephants arc fastened with a rope of grass-blades 
 twined." 
 
 ' And it is written, you know, 
 
 " Let the household hold togetlier, though the house be ne'er so 
 small; 
 Strip the rice-husk from the rice-grain, and it groweth not at 
 aU." 
 
 Haying pondered this advice, the Pigeons adopted it ; 
 and flew awaj- with the net. At first the fowler, who 
 was at a distance, hoped to recover them, but as they 
 passed out of sight with the snare about them he gave 
 up the pursuit. Perceiving this, the Pigeons said, 
 ' "What is the next thing to be done, King ? ' 
 ' A friend of mine,' said Speckle-neck, ' lives near in 
 a beautiful forest on the Grundaki. Golden-skin is his 
 name — the King of the Mice (-^) — he is the one to cut 
 these bonds.' 
 
 Resolving to have recourse to him, they du-ected their 
 flight to the hole of Golden-skin — a prudent monarch, 
 who di-eaded danger so much that he had made himself 
 a palace with a hundred outlets, and lived always in it. 
 Sitting there he heard the descent of the pigeons, and 
 remained silent and alarmed. 
 
14 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 ' Frieud Golden-skin,' cried the King, ' have you no 
 welcome for us ? ' 
 
 ' Ah, my friend ! ' said the Mouse-king, rushing out 
 on recognizing the voice, ' is it thou art come. Speckle- 
 neck ! how delightful! — ^But what is this?' exclaimed 
 he, regarding the entangled net. 
 
 ' That,' said King Speclde-neck, ' is the effect of 
 some wrong-doing in a former life, — 
 
 " Sickness, anguish, bonds, and woe 
 Spring from wrongs wrought long ago (''')." 
 
 Golden-sldn, without repljing, ran at once to the net, 
 and began to gnaw the strings that held Speclde-neck. 
 
 ' Nay ! friend, not so,' said the I^ng, ' cut me first 
 these meshes from my followers, and afterwards thou 
 shalt sever mine.' 
 
 ' I am httle,' answered Golden-skin, ' and my teeth 
 are weak — how can I gnaw so much? No! no! I will 
 nibhle your strings as long as my teeth last, and after- 
 wards do my best for the others. To preserve depen- 
 dants by sacrificing oneself is nowhere enjoined by wise 
 moraUsts; on the contrary, — 
 
 " Keep wealth for want, but spend it for thy wife, 
 And vnfe, and wealth, and all to guard thy life." 
 
 ' Friend,' replied King Speckle-neck, ' that may be 
 the rule of policy, but I am one that can by no means 
 
THE WINNING OF FRIENDS. 15 
 
 bear to witness the distress of those who depend on me, 
 for, — 
 
 " Death, that must come, comes nobly when we give 
 Our wealth, and life, and all, to make men live." 
 
 And you know the verse, 
 
 " Friend, art thou faithful ? guard mine honour so I 
 And let the earthy rotting body go." 
 
 When King Golden-skin heard this answer his heart 
 was charmed, and his fur bristled up for pure pleasure. 
 ' Nobly spoken, friend,' said he, 'nobly spoken! with 
 such a tenderness for those that look to thee, the 
 Sovereignty of the Three Worlds might be fitly thine.' 
 So saying he set himself to cut all then- bonds. This 
 done, and the pigeons extricated, the King of the Mice 
 gave them his formal welcome. ' But, your Majesty,' 
 he said, ' this captm-e in the net was a work of destiny; 
 you must not blame yourself as you did, and suspect 
 a former fault. Is it not written, — 
 
 " Floating on his fearless pinions, lost amid the noonday skies. 
 Even thence the Eagle's vision kens the carcase where it Ues ; 
 But the hour that comes to all things comes unto the Lord of 
 
 Air, 
 And he rushes, madly blinded, to his ruin in the snare." 
 
 With this correction Golden-skin proceeded to perform 
 the duties of hospitality, and afterwards, embracing and 
 dismissing them, the pigeons left for such destination 
 
16 THE BOOK OF GOOD COTTN'SELS. 
 
 as they fancied, and the King of the Mice retired again 
 into his hole. 
 
 Now Light o'^Leap, the Crow, had been a spectator 
 of the whole transaction, and wondered at it so much 
 that at last he called out, ' Ho ! Golden-skin, thou verj- 
 laudable Prince, let me too be a friend of thine, and 
 give me thj' friendship.' 
 
 ' "Wlio art thou ? ' said Golden-skin, who heard him, 
 but would not come out of his hole. 
 
 ' I am the Crow Light o' Leap,' rejilied the other. 
 
 'How can I possibly be on good terms with thee?' 
 answered Golden-skin with a laugh.;. ' hare you never 
 read, — 
 
 " AMien Food is friends with Feeder, look for "Woe, 
 The Jackal ate the Deer, but for the Crow." 
 
 'No! how was that?' 
 
 ' I will tell thee,' replied Golden-skin : — 
 
 ®Iu; ^torjT of i\u Jaclial, gccr, nm\ djrouj. 
 
 ' Far away in Behar there is a forest called Champak- 
 GroTe("^), and in it had long lived in much affection a 
 Deer and a Crow. The Deer, roaming unrestrained, happy 
 and fat of carcase, was one day descried by a Jackal. 
 "Ho! ho!' thought the Jackal on observing him, "if 
 I could but get this soft meat for a meal! It mit^ht 
 
THE WINDING OF FKIENDS. 17 
 
 be — if I can only win his confidence." Thus reflect- 
 ing he approached, and saluted him. 
 
 " Health be to thee, friend Deer!" 
 
 " Who art thou?" said the Deer. 
 
 " I'm Small-wit, the Jackal," replied the other. " I 
 live in the wood here, as the dead do, without a friend ; 
 but now that I have met with such a friend as thou, 
 I feel as if I were beginning life again with plenty of 
 relations. Consider me your faithful servant." 
 
 " Very well," said the Deer; and then, as the glorious 
 King of Day, whose diadem is the light, had withdrawn 
 himseK, the two went together to the residence of the 
 Deer. In that same spot, on a branch of Champak, 
 dwelt the Crow Sharp-sense, an old friend of the Deer. 
 Seeing them approach together, the Crow said, 
 
 " Who is this number two, friend Deer?" 
 
 " It is a Jackal," answered the Deer, " that desii-es 
 our acquaintance." 
 
 " You should not become friendly to a stranger 
 without reason," said Sharp-sense. " Don't you know?" 
 
 " To folks by no one known house-room deny: 
 The Vulture housed the Cat, and thence did die." 
 
 "No! how was that?" said both. 
 " In this wise," answered the Crow. 
 
18 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 Sfhc ^torg 4 the ^utiur.c, tli^ ^at, m\& 
 ilxe girds. 
 
 ' On the banks of the Ganges there is a cliff called 
 Vulture-Crag, and thereupon grew a great fig-tree (-*). 
 It was hollow, and within its shelter Uved an old Vulture, 
 named Grey-pate, whose hard fortune it was to have 
 lost both eyes and talons. The birds that roosted in 
 the tree made subscriptions from their own store, out 
 of sheer pity for the poor feUow, and by that means 
 he managed to live. One day, when the old birds 
 were gone. Long-ear, the Cat, came there to get a meal 
 of the nestlings ; and they, alarmed at perceiving him, 
 set up a chirruping that roused Grey-pate. 
 
 " Who comes there?" croaked Grey-pate. 
 
 ' Now Long-ear, on espying the Vulture, thought 
 himself undone; but as flight was impossible, he re- 
 solved to trust his destiny and approach. 
 
 " My lord," said he, " I have the honour to salute 
 thee." 
 
 " Who is it?" said the Vultm-e. 
 
 " I am a Cat." 
 
 " Be off. Cat, or I shall slay thee," said the Vulture. 
 
 " I am ready to die if I deseiTe death," answered 
 the Cat; " but let what I have to say be heard." 
 
THE WINNING OF FRIENDS. 19 
 
 " Wherefore, then, comest thou?" said the Vulture. 
 
 " I live," began Long-ear, " on the Ganges, bathing, 
 and eating no flesh, practising the moon-penance (-^), 
 like a Bramacharya f'*). The birds that resort thither 
 constantly praise your worship to me as one wholly given 
 to the study of morality, and worthy of aU ti-ust; and so 
 I came here to learn law from thee. Sir, who art so deep 
 gone in learning and in years. Dost thou, then, so read 
 the law of strangers as to be ready to slay a guest ? 
 What say the books about the householder? — 
 
 " Bar thy door not to the stranger, be he friend or be he foe, 
 For the tree will shade the woodman while his axe doth lay it 
 low." 
 
 And if means fail, what there is should be given with. 
 kind words ; as — ■ 
 
 " Greeting fair, and room to rest in ; fire, and water fi-om the weU — 
 Simple ^ts — are given freely in the house where good men 
 dwell,"— 
 
 and without respect of person — 
 
 " Young, or bent with many winters ; rich, or jwor, whate'er thy 
 guest, 
 Honour bim for thine own honour — better is he than the best." 
 
 Else comes the rebuke — 
 
 " Pity them that ask thy pity : who art thou to stint thy hoard, 
 When the holy moon shines equal on the leper and the lord ! " 
 
 2—2 
 
20 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 And that other, too, 
 
 " When thy gate is roughly fastened, and the asker turns away, 
 Thence he bears thy good deeds with him, and his sins on thee 
 doth lay." 
 
 For verily, 
 
 " In the house the husband ruleth, men the Brahmans ' master ' 
 
 call ; 
 (") Agni is the Twice-born Master — but the guest is lord of all." 
 
 ' To these weighty words Grey-pate answered, 
 " Yes! but cats like meat, and there are young birds 
 here, and therefore I said, go." 
 
 " Sir," said the Cat (and as he spoke he touched the 
 ground, and then his two ears, and called on Krishna (^^) 
 to witness to his words), " I that have overcome passion, 
 and practised the moon-penance, know the Scriptures; 
 and howsoever they contend, in this primal duty of 
 abstaining from injury they are unanimous. "Which of 
 them sayeth not, — 
 
 " He who does and thinks no wrong — 
 He who suffers, being strong — 
 He whose harmlessness men know — 
 Unto Swerga such doth go ('')." 
 
 ' And so, winning the old Vulture's confidence, Long- 
 ear, the Cat, entered the hollow tree and lived there. 
 And day after day he stole away some of the nestlings, 
 and brought them down to the hollow to devour. Mean- 
 time the parent birds, whose little ones were being 
 
THE AVINNING OF FKIENDS. 21 
 
 eaten, made an inquiry after them in all quarters; and 
 the Cat, discovering this fact, slipped out from the 
 hollow, and made his escape. Afterwards, when the 
 hirds came to look closely, they found the hones of 
 their young ones in the hollow of the tree where Grey- 
 pate lived; and the birds at once concluded that their 
 nestlings had been Mlled and eaten by the old Vulture, 
 whom they accordingly executed. That is my story, 
 and why I warned you against unknown acquaintances.' 
 " Sir," said the Jackal, with some warmth, " on the 
 first day of your encountering the Deer you also v/ere 
 of unknown family and character: how is it, then, that 
 your friendship ^dth him grows daily gi-eater? True, 
 I am only Small-wit, the Jackal, but what says the 
 saw? — 
 
 " In the land where no wise men are, men of little wit are lords ; 
 And the castor-oil's a tree, where no tree else its shade 
 affords C)." 
 
 The Deer is my friend; condescend, sir, to be my 
 friend also." 
 
 "Oh!" broke in the Deer, " why so much talking? 
 We'll all Hve together, and be friendly and happy, — 
 
 " Foe is friend, and friend is foe, 
 As our actions make them so." 
 
 " Very good," said Sharp-sense; "as you will;" and 
 in the morning each started early for his own feeding- 
 
22 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 ground (returning at night). One day the Jackal drew 
 the Deer aside, and whispered, " Deer, in one corner 
 of this wood there is a field full of sweet young wheat ; 
 come and let me show you." The Deer accompanied 
 him, and found the field, and afterwards went every day 
 there to eat the green corn, tiU at last the owner of 
 the ground spied him and set a snare. The Deer 
 came again very shortly, and was caught in it, and 
 (after vainly struggling) exclaimed, " I am fast in the 
 net, and it will be a net of death to me if no friend 
 comes to rescue me ! " Presently Small- wit, the Jackal, 
 who had been lurking near, made his appearance, and 
 standing still, he said to himself, with a chuckle, " O 
 ho! my scheme bears fi-uit! When he is cut up, his 
 bones, and gristle, and blood wiU fall to my share and 
 make me some beautiful dinners." The Deer, here 
 catching sight of him, exclaimed with rapture, " Ah, 
 friend, this is excellent! Do but gnaw these strings, 
 and I shall be at liberty. How charming to realize the 
 saying ! — 
 
 " That friend only is the true friend who is near when trouble 
 comes; 
 
 That man only is the brave man who can bear the battle- 
 drums; 
 
 Words are wind ; deed proveth promise : he who helps at need 
 is kin; 
 
 And the leal wife is loving though the husband lose or win." 
 
THE WINNING OF FRIENDS. 23 
 
 And is it not written — 
 
 " Friend and kinsman — more their meaning than the idle-hearted 
 
 mind. 
 Many a friend can prove unfriendly, many a kinsman less than 
 
 kind: 
 He who shares his comrade's portion, be he beggar, be he lord, 
 Comes as truly, comes as duly, to the battle as the board — 
 Stands before the king to succour, follows to the pile to sigh — 
 He is friend, and he is kinsman — less would make the name a 
 
 lie." 
 
 ' Small-wit answered nothing, but betook himself to 
 examining the snare very closely. 
 
 " This will certainly hold," muttered he ; then, turn- 
 ing to the Deer, he said, " Good friend, these strings, 
 you see, are made of sinew, and to-day is a fast-day, 
 so that I cannot possibly bite them. To-morrow morn- 
 ing, if you stUl desire it, I shall be happy to serve 
 you." 
 
 When he was gone, the Crow, who had missed the 
 Deer upon returning that evening, and had sought for 
 him everywhere, discovered him; and seeing his sad 
 plight, exclaimed, — 
 
 " How came this about, my friend?" 
 
 " This came," replied the Deer, " through disregard- 
 ing a friend's advice." 
 
 " Where is that rascal Small-wit?" asked the Crow. 
 
 " He is waiting somewhere by," said the Deer, " to 
 taste my flesh." 
 
24 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 " Well," sighed the Crow, " I warned you; but it is 
 as in the true verse, — 
 
 " Stars gleam, lamps flicker, friends foretell of fate ; 
 The fated sees, knows, hears tliem — all too late." 
 
 And then, with a deeper sigh, he exclaimed, "All, 
 traitor Jackal, what an ill deed hast thou done ! Smooth- 
 tongued Imave — alas ! — and in the face of the monition 
 too, — 
 
 " Absent, flatterers" tongues are daggers — present, softer than the 
 
 silk; 
 Shun them ! 'tis a jar of poison hidden under harmless milk ; 
 Shim them when they promise little ! Shun them when they 
 
 promise much ! 
 For, enkindled, charcoal hurneth — cold, it doth defile the 
 
 touch." 
 
 ' When the day broke, the Crow (who was still there) • 
 saw the master of the field approaching ^dth his club 
 in his hand. 
 
 " Now, friend Deer," said Sharp-sense on perceiYing 
 him, "do thou cause thyself to seem Uke one dead; 
 puff thy belly up with wind, stiffen thy legs out, and 
 lie Tery still. I will make a show of pecking thine eyes 
 out -nith my beak; and whensoever I utter a croak, 
 then spring to thy feet and betake thee to flight." 
 
 The Deer thereon placed himself exactly as the Crow 
 suggested, and was very soon espied by the husband- 
 man, whose eyes opened with joy at the sight. 
 
THE WINNING OK TRIENDS. 25 
 
 "Aha!" said he, "the fellow has died of hiiaself," 
 and so spealdng, he released the Deer fi-om the snare, 
 and proceeded to gather and lay aside his nets. At 
 that instant Sharp-sense uttered a loud croak, and the 
 Deer sprang up and made off. And the club which 
 the husbandman flung after him in a rage, struck Small- 
 T^'it, the Jackal (who was close by), and killed him. Is 
 it not said, indeed ?— 
 
 " In years, or moons, or half-moons three, 
 Or in three days — suddenly, 
 Knaves are shent — true men go free." 
 
 ' Thou seest, then,' said Golden-skin, ' there can he 
 no friendship between food and feeder.' 
 
 ' I should hardly,' replied the Crow, ' get a large 
 breakfast out of your worship; but as to that indeed 
 you have nothing to fear from me. I am not often 
 angry, and if I were, you know — 
 
 " Anger comes to noble natures, but leaves there no strife or 
 storm: 
 Plunge a lighted torch beneath it, and the ocean grows not 
 warm." 
 
 ' Then, also, thou art such a gad-about,' objected 
 the King. 
 
 'May-be,' answered Light o' Leap; 'but lambent 
 on winning thy friendship, and I will die at thy door 
 
26 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 of fasting if thou grantsst it not. Let us be friends! 
 for 
 
 " Noble hearts are golden vases — close the bond true metals make ; 
 Easily the smith may weld them, harder far it is to break. 
 Evil hearts are earthen vessels — at a touch they crack a- twain, 
 And what craftsman's ready cunning can unite the shards 
 again ? " 
 
 And then, too, 
 
 " Good men's inendships may be broken, yet abide they friends at 
 heart ; 
 Snap the stem of Luxmee's lotus, and its fibres will not part." 
 
 ' Grood sir,' said the King of the Mice, ' your conversa- 
 tion is as pleasing as pearl necklets or oil of sandal- 
 wood (^^) in hot weather. Be it as you will,' — and 
 thereon King Golden-skin made a treaty with the Crow, 
 and after gratifying him with the best of his store re- 
 entered his hole. The Crow returned to his accustomed 
 perch: — and thenceforward the time passed in mutual 
 presents of food, in poUte inquiries, and the most 
 unrestrained talk. One day Light o' Leap thus accosted 
 Golden-skin : — 
 
 ' This is a poor place, your IMajesty, for a Crow to get 
 a living in. I should Hke to leave it and go elsewhere.' 
 
 'Whither wouldst thou go?' replied the King; they 
 
 say, 
 
 " One foot goes, and one foot stands. 
 When the wise man leaves his lands." 
 
THE AVINNIKG OF FRIENDS. 27 
 
 * And they say, too,' answered the Crow, 
 
 " Over-love of home were weakness ; wheresoe'er the hero come, 
 Stalwart arm and steadfast spirit find or win for him a home. 
 Little recks the awless lion where his hunting jungles lie — 
 Wlaen he enters it he certain that a royal prej' shall die.'' 
 
 ' I know an excellent jungle now.' 
 
 ' Which is that?' asked the Mouse-king. 
 
 ' In the Nerhudda woods, by Camphor-water,' replied 
 the Crow. ' There is an old and valued friend of mine 
 lives there, — Slow-toes his name is, a very virtuous 
 Tortoise ; he will regale me with fish and good things.' 
 
 ' Why should I stay behind,' said Golden-skin, ' if 
 thou goest? Take me also.' 
 
 Accordingly, the two set forth together enjojTng 
 charming converse upon the road. Slow-toes perceived 
 Light o' Leap a long way off, and hastened to do him 
 the guest-rites, extending them to the Mouse upon 
 Light o' Leap's introduction. 
 
 ' Grood Slow-toes,' said he, ' this is Golden-skin, 
 King of the Mice, — pay all honour to him, — he is 
 burdened with virtues — a very jewel-mine of kindnesses. 
 I don't know if the Prince of all the Serpents (^^), 
 with his two thousand tongues, could rightly repeat 
 them.' So speaking, he told the story of Speckle-neck. 
 Thereupon Slow-toes made a profound obeisance to 
 Golden-skin, and said, 'How came your Majesty, may 
 I ask, to retire to an unfrequented forest?' 
 
28 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 ' I ■will tell you,' said the Bang. ' You must know 
 that in the toTSTi of Champaka there is a college for 
 the devotees. Unto this resorted daily a teggar-priest, 
 named Chudakarna, whose custom was to place his 
 begging-dish upon the shelf, with such alms in it as 
 he had not eaten, and go to sleep by it; and I, so soon 
 as he slept, used to jump up, and devour the meal. 
 One day a great friend of his, named Vinakarna, also 
 a mendicant, came to visit him ; and observed that while 
 conversing, he kept striking the ground with a split 
 cane, to fi-ighten me. "Why don't you listen?" said 
 Yinakarna. " I am listening! " replied the other; " but 
 this plaguj' mouse is alwaji'S eating the meal out of 
 my begging-dish." Yinakarna looked at the shelf and 
 remarked, " However can a mouse jump as high as this? 
 There must be a reason, though there seems none. 
 I guess the cause, — the fellow is well off and h,t." 
 "With these words Yinakarna snatched up a shovel, 
 discovered my retreat, and took away aU my hoard of 
 provisions. After that I lost strength daily, had scarcely 
 energy enough to get my dinner, and, in fact, crept 
 about so wretchedly, that when Chudakarna saw me he 
 fell to quoting, — 
 
 " Very feeble folk are poor folk ; money lost takes ivit away : 
 All their doings fail like runnels, wasting through the summer 
 day." 
 
THE WINNING OF TEIENDS. 29 
 
 " Yes ! " I thought, " he is right, and so are the 
 sayings — 
 
 " Wealth is friends, home, father, brother — title to respect aiid 
 fame; 
 Yea, and wealth is held for -wisdom — that it should he so is 
 shame." 
 
 " Home is empty to the childless; hearts to them who friends 
 deplore : 
 Earth unto the idle-minded ; and the three worlds to the poor." 
 
 " I can stay here no longer ; and to tell my distress to 
 another is out of the question — altogether out of the 
 question ! — 
 
 " Say the sages, nine things name not : Age, domestic joys and 
 woes. 
 
 Counsel, sickness, shame, alms, penance ; neither Poverty dis- 
 close. 
 
 Better for the proud of spirit, death, than life with losses told ; 
 
 Fire consents to be extinguished, but submits not to be cold." 
 
 " Verily he was wise, methought also, who wrote — 
 
 " As Age doth banish beauty, 
 
 As moonlight dies in gloom. 
 As Slavery's menial duty 
 
 Is Honour's certain tomb ; 
 As Hari's name and Hara's (^) 
 
 Spoken, charm sin away. 
 So Poverty can surely 
 
 A hundred virtues slay." 
 
 " And as to sustaining myself on another man's bread, 
 
30 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 that," I mused, " would be but a second door of death. 
 Say not the books the same ? — 
 
 " Half-known knowledge, present pleasure purchased with a 
 future woe, 
 And to taste the salt of service (") — ^greater griefs no man can 
 know." 
 
 " And herein, also — 
 
 " All existence is not equal, and all living is not life ; 
 
 Sick men live; and he who, banished, pines for children, home, 
 and wife; 
 
 And the craven-hearted eater of another's leavings lives. 
 
 And the wretched captive waiting for the word of doom sur- 
 vives; 
 
 But they hear an anguished body, and they draw a deadly 
 breath, 
 
 And life cometh to them only on the happy day of death." 
 
 Yet, after all these reflections, I was covetous enough to 
 make one more attempt on Chudakarna's meal, and got 
 a blow from the split cane for my pains. " Just so," I 
 said to myself, " the soul and organs of the discon- 
 tented want keeping in subjection. I must be done with 
 discontent : — 
 
 " Golden gift, serene Contentment! have thou that, and all is had; 
 Thrust thy slipper on, and think thee that the earth is leather- 
 clad." 
 
 " All is known, digested, tested ; nothing new is left to learn 
 When the soul, serene, reliant, Hope's delusive dreams can 
 spurn." 
 
THE WINNING OF FRIENDS. 31 
 
 " And the sorry task of seeking favour is numbered in 
 the miseries of life — 
 
 " Hast thou never watched, a-waiting till the great man's door 
 unbarred ? 
 Didst thou never linger parting, saying many a sad last Tvord ? 
 Spak'st thou never Avord of foUy, one light thing thou ^vould'st 
 
 recall? 
 Eare and noble hath thy life been ! fair thy fortune did befall !" 
 
 " No ! " exclaimed I, " I will do none of these ; but, 
 by retiring into the quiet and untrodden forest, I mil 
 show my discernment of real good and ill. The holy 
 Books counsel it — 
 
 " True Beligion ! — ^"tis not blindly prating what the priest may 
 
 prat*, 
 But to love, as God hath loved them, all things, be they small 
 
 or great ; 
 And true bliss is when a sane mind doth a healthy body fill ; 
 And true knowledge is the knowing what is good and what is 
 
 ill." 
 
 ' So came I to the forest, where, by good fortune and 
 this good friend, I met much kindness; and by the same 
 good fortune have encountered you. Sir, whose friendli- 
 ness is as Heaven to me. Ah ! Sir Tortoise, 
 
 " Poisonous though the tree of life be, two fiiir blossoms gi-ow 
 thereon : 
 One, the company of good men; and sweet songs of Poets, 
 one." 
 
32 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUN^SELS. 
 
 ' King ! ' said Slow-toes, ' your error was getting too 
 mncli, -nithout giving. Give, says the sage — 
 
 " Give, and it shall swell thy getting ; give, and thou shalt safer 
 keep: 
 Pierce the tank- wall; or it yieldeth, when the water waxes 
 deep." 
 
 And lie is vei-y hard upon money-grubbing : as thus — 
 
 " When the miser hides his treasure in the earth, he doeth well ; 
 For he opens up a passage that his soul may sink to hell." 
 
 And thus — 
 
 " He whose coins are kept for counting, not to barter nor to give. 
 Breathe he like a blacksmith's bellows (^), yet in truth he doth 
 not live." 
 
 It hath been well written, indeed, 
 
 ■" Gifts, bestowed with words of kindness, making giving doubly 
 
 dear: 
 Wisdom, deep, complete, benignant, of all arrogancy clear ; 
 "Valour, never yet forgetful of sweet Mercy's pleading prayer ; 
 Wealth, and scorn of wealth to spend it — oh ! but these be 
 
 •\-irtues rare ! " 
 
 ' Frugal one may be,' continued Slow-toes ; ' but not a 
 niggard like the Jackal — 
 
 " The Jackal-knave, that starved his spirit so, 
 And died of saving, by a broken bow." 
 
 * Did he, indeed,' said Golden-skin ; ' and how was 
 that ? ' 
 
 ' I -^ill tell you,' answered Slow-toes : — 
 
THE WIKNING OF FRIENDS. 33 
 
 ®hc ^k\% of i\u gcad dame n\\& ilic fa^Iml 
 
 'In a town called " Well-to-Dwell " there lived a 
 mighty hunter, whose name was " Grim-face." Feel- 
 ing a desire one day for a little venison, he took his 
 how, and went into the woods; where he soon killed 
 a deer. As he was carrying the deer home, he came 
 upon a wild hoar of prodigious proportions. Laying 
 the deer upon the earth, he fixed and discharged an 
 arrow and struck the boar, which instantly rushed upon 
 him with a roar louder than the last thunder (^^), and 
 ripped the hunter up. He fell like a tree cut by the 
 axe, and lay dead along with the boar, and a snake 
 also, which had been cmshed by the feet of the com- 
 batants. Not long afterwards, there came that way, 
 in his prowl for food, a Jackal, named " Howl o' 
 Nights," and cast eyes on the hunter, the deer, the 
 boar, and the snake lying dead together. "Aha!" 
 said he, " what luck! Here's a grand dinner got ready 
 for me! Good fortune can come, I see, as well as ill 
 fortune. Let me think: — the man will be fine pickings 
 for a month; the deer with the boar will last two 
 more; the snake will do for to-morrow; and, as I 
 am very particularly hungry, I will treat myself now 
 to this bit of stinking gut on the bow-horn." So say- 
 
 8 
 
34 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 ing, he began to gnaw it asunder, and the bow-string 
 slipping, the bow sprang back, and resolved Howl o' 
 Nights into the five elements (^) by death. That is 
 my story,' continued Slow-toes, ' and its application is 
 for the wise : — 
 
 " Sentences of studied Avisdom, nought avail they imappKed ; 
 Though the blind man hold a lantern, yet his footsteps stray 
 aside." 
 
 The secret of success, indeed, is a free, contented, and 
 yet enterprisiag mind. How say the books thereon ? — 
 
 " Wouldst thou know whose happy dwelling Fortune entereth 
 
 miknown ? 
 His, who careless of her fevour, standeth fearless in his own ; 
 His, who for the vague to-morrow barters not the sure to-day — 
 Master of himself and sternly steadfast to the rightful way : 
 Very mindful of past service, valiant, faithflil, true of heart — 
 Unto such comes Lakshmi^) smiling — comes, and wiU not 
 
 lightly part." 
 
 What indeed,' continued Slow-toes, ' is wealth, that we 
 should prize it, or grieTe to lose it ? — 
 
 " Be not haughty, being wealthy ; droop not, having lost thine all ; 
 Fate doth play with mortal fortunes as a girl doth toss her ball." 
 
 It is unstable by nature. We are told — 
 
 " Worldly friendships, fair but fleeting, shadows of the clouds at 
 noon. 
 Women C), youth, new] corn, and riches — these be pleasures 
 passing soon." 
 
THE WINNING OF FRIENDS. 35 
 
 And it is idle to be anxious ; the Master of Life knows 
 liow to sustain it. Is it not written ? — 
 
 " For thy bread be not o'er thoughtful — God for all hath taken 
 thought : 
 When the babe is bom, the sweet milk to the mother's breast is 
 brought. 
 
 He who gave the swan her silver, and the hawk her plumes of 
 
 pride. 
 And his purples to the peacock — He wUl verily provide." 
 
 Yes, verUy/ said Slow-toes, ' wealth is bad to handle, 
 and better left alone ; there is no truer saying than 
 this — 
 
 " Though for good ends, waste not on wealth a minute ; 
 Mud may be wiped, but wise men plunge not in it." 
 
 Hearing the wisdom of these monitions, Light o' 
 Leap broke out, " Good Slow-toes ! thou art a wise 
 protector of those that come to thee; thy learning com- 
 forts my enlightened friend, as elephants drag elephants 
 from the mire." And thus, on the best of terms, 
 wandering where they pleased for food, the three lived 
 there together. 
 
 One day it chanced that a Deer named Dapple- 
 back (*"), who had seen some cause of alarm in the forest, 
 came suddenly upon the three in his flight. Thinking 
 the danger imminent. Slow-toes dropped into the water. 
 King Golden-skin slipped into his hole, and Light-o'- 
 
 3—2 
 
36 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 Leap flew up into the top of a Iiigli tree. Thence he 
 looked all round to a great distance, hut could discover 
 nothing. So they all came hack again, and sat down 
 together. Slow-toes welcomed the Deer. 
 
 " Good Deer," said he, " may gi-ass and water never 
 fail thee at thy need. Gratify us hy residing here, and 
 consider this forest thine own." 
 
 " Indeed," answered Dapple-hack, " I came hither 
 for your protection, flying from a hunter ; and to live 
 with you in friendship is my greatest desire." 
 
 " Then the thing is settled," ohserved Golden-skin. 
 
 " Yes ! yes ! " said Light o' Leap, " make yourself 
 altogether at home ! " 
 
 So the Deer, charmed at his reception, eat grass and 
 drank water, and laid himself do^mi in the shade of a 
 Banyan-tree to talk. "Who does not know? — 
 
 " Brunettes, and the Banyan's shadow, 
 Well-springs, and a brick-built wall. 
 Are all alike cool in the smnmer. 
 And warm in the winter — all." 
 
 " "What made thee alarmed, friend Deer ? " hegan 
 Slow-toes. " Do hunters ever come to this unfrequented 
 forest?" 
 
 " I have heard," replied Dapple-hack, " that the 
 Prince of the Kalinga country, Rukmangada, is coming 
 here. He is even now encamped on the Cheenah Eiver, 
 
THE WINNING OF FKIENDS. 37 
 
 on his marcli to subjugate the borders ; and the hunters 
 have been heard to say that he will halt to-morrow by 
 this very lake of ' Camphor-water.' Don't you think, 
 as it is dangerous to stay, that we ought to resolve on 
 something?" 
 
 " I shall certainly go to another pool," exclaimed 
 Slow-toes. 
 
 " It would be better," answered the Crow and Deer 
 together. 
 
 " Yes!" remarked the King of the Mice, after a 
 minute's thought; " but how is Slow-toes to get across 
 the country in time? Animals like our amphibious 
 host are best in the water; on land he might suffer from 
 his own design, like the merchant's son — 
 
 " The merchant's son laid plans for gains, 
 And saw his •wife kissed for his pains." 
 
 " How came that about?" asked all. 
 " I'll tell you," answered Golden-sMn. 
 
 M\\t friitrc m& tlt« Wift af lite P^errhant's ^au, 
 
 ' In the country of Kanouj there was a King named 
 Virasena, and he made his son viceroy of a city called 
 Virapoora. The Prince was rich, handsome, and in the 
 bloom of youth. Passing through the streets of his 
 
38 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 city one day, he observed a very lovely woman, whose 
 name was Lavanyavati — i. e., the Beautiful — the wife of 
 a merchant's son. On reaching his palace, full of her 
 charms and of passionate admiration for them, he 
 despatched a message to her, and a letter, by a female 
 attendant : — who wonders at it ? — 
 
 " Ah ! the gleaming, glancuig arrows of a lovely Tvoman's eye ! 
 Feathered with her jetty lashes, perilous they pass us by: 
 Loosed at venture from the black bows of her arching brow they 
 
 part, 
 AH too penetrant and deadly for an undefended heart." 
 
 Now Lavanyavati, from the moment she saw the Prince, 
 was hit with the same weapon of love that wounded him ; 
 but upon hearing the message of the attendant, she 
 refused with dignity to receive his letter. 
 
 " I am my husband's," she said, " and that is my 
 honour; for — 
 
 " Beautiftil the Koil (") seemeth for the sweetness of his song, 
 Beautiful the world esteemeth pious souls for patience strong ; 
 Homely features lack not favour when true wisdom they reveal. 
 And a wife is fair and honoured while ber heart is firm and leal." 
 
 What the lord of my life enjoins, that I do." 
 " Is such my answer ?" asked the attendant. 
 " It is," said Lavanyavati. 
 Upon the messenger reporting her reply to the Prince, 
 
 he was in despair. 
 
THE WINNING OF FRIENDS. 39 
 
 " The God of the five shafts (*=) has hit me," he ex- 
 claimed, " and only her presence mil cure my wound." 
 
 " We must make her husband bring her, then," said 
 the messenger. 
 
 " That can never be," repHed the Prince. 
 
 " It can," replied the messenger, — 
 
 " Fraud may achieve ■what force would never try : 
 The Jackal killed the Elephant thereby." 
 
 " How was that ?" asked the Prince. 
 The Slave related : — 
 
 ^\u ^lorg of lln{ ®Id Jaclmt and tk (Slcphant. 
 
 "In the forest of Brahma (*') lived an Elephant, whose 
 name was ' White-front.' The Jackals knew him, and 
 said among themselves, ' If this great brute would but 
 die, there would be four months' food for us, and plenty, 
 out of his carcase.' With that an old Jackal stood up, 
 and pledged himself to compass the death of the 
 Elephant by his own wit. Accordingly, he sought for 
 * White-front,' and, going up to him, he made the reve- 
 rential prostration of the eight members (**), gravely 
 saluting him. 
 
 ' Divine creature,' said he, ' vouchsafe me the regard 
 of one look.' 
 
40 THE BOOK OF GOOD COTINSELS. 
 
 ' Who art thou ?' gnmted the Elephant, ' and whence 
 comest thou ?' 
 
 ' I am only a Jackal,' said the other ; ' hut the heasts 
 of the forest are conTinced that it is not expedient to 
 live without a king, and they have met in full council, 
 and despatched me to acquaint your Eoyal Highness 
 that on you, endowed with so many lordly qualities, 
 their choice has fallen for a sovereign over the forest 
 here ; for — 
 
 " Who is just, and strong, and wise? 
 Who is true to social ties? 
 He is formed for Emperies." 
 
 Let your Majesty, therefore, repair thither at once, that 
 the moment of fortunate conjunction (*^) may not 
 escape us.' So saying he led the way, followed at a 
 great pace by "White-front, who was eager to commence 
 his reign. 
 
 " Presently the Jackal brought him upon a deep 
 slough, into which he plunged heavily before he could 
 stop himself. 
 
 ' Good master Jackal,' cried the Elephant, ' what's 
 to do now ? I am up to my belly in this quagmire.' 
 
 ' Perhaps your Majesty,' said the Jackal, with an 
 impudent laugh, ' will condescend to take hold of the 
 tip of my brush with your trunk, and so get out.' 
 
 " Then White-front, the Elephant, knew that he 
 
THE WINNING OP JKIENDS. 41 
 
 had been deceived ; and thus he sank in the shme, and 
 was devoured hy the Jackals. Hence," continued the 
 attendant, " is why I suggested stratagem to your high- 
 ness." 
 
 Shortly afterwards, by the Slave's advice, the Prince 
 sent for the merchant's son (whose name was Charu- 
 datta), and appointed him to be near his person ; and 
 one day, with the same design, when he was just come 
 from the bath, and had on his jewels, he summoned 
 Charudatta, and said, — 
 
 " I have a vow to keep to Gauri(*^) — ^bring hither to 
 me every evening for a month some lady of good family, 
 that I may do honour to her, according to my vow ; and 
 begin to-day." 
 
 Charudatta in due course brought a lady of quality, 
 and, having introduced her, retired to watch the inter- 
 view. The Prince, without even approaching his fair 
 visitor, made her the most respectful obeisances, and 
 dismissed her with gifts of ornaments, sandal-wood, 
 and perfumes, under the protection of a guard. This 
 made Charudatta confident, and longing to get some 
 of these princely presents he brought his own wife 
 next evening. "When the Prince recognized the charm- 
 ing Lavanyavati — the joy of his soul — ^he sprang to 
 meet her, and kissed and caressed her without the 
 least restraint. At sight of this the miserable Charu- 
 
42 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 datta stood transfixed -witli despair — the very picture 
 of •ffretcliedness ' 
 
 " And you too, Slow- toes — but wliere is lie gone ?" 
 abruptly asked King Golden-skin. 
 
 Now Slow-toes had not chosen to wait the end of 
 the story, hut was gone before, and Golden-skin and 
 the others followed him up in some anxiety. The 
 Tortoise had been painfully travelling along, until a 
 hunter, who was beating the wood for game, had over- 
 taken him. The fellow, who was very hungry, picked 
 him up, fastened him on his bow-stick, and set off 
 for home; while the Deer, the Crow, and the Mouse, 
 who had witnessed the capture, followed them in terrible 
 concern. " Alas ! " cried the Mouse-king, " he is gone ! 
 — and such a friend ! 
 
 " Friend ! gracious word ! — the heart to tell is ill able 
 Whence came to men this jewel of a syllable." 
 
 " Let US," continued he to his companions, " let us 
 make one attempt, at least, to rescue Slow-toes before 
 the hunter is out of the wood! " 
 
 " Only teU us how to do it," replied they. 
 
 "Do thus," said Golden-skin: "let Dapple-back 
 hasten on to the water, and lie down there and make 
 himseK appear dead; and do you, Light o' Leap, hover 
 over him and peck about his body. The hunter is sure 
 
THE WINNING OF FRIENDS. 43 
 
 to put the Tortoise down to get the venison, and I 
 will gnaw his bonds." 
 
 ' The Deer and the Crow started at once; and the 
 hunter, who. was sitting down to rest under a tree and 
 drinking water, soon caught sight of the Deer, appa- 
 rently dead. Drawing his wood-knife, and putting 
 the Tortoise down by the water, he hastened to secure 
 the Deer, and Golden-sMn, in the meantime, gnawed 
 asunder the string that held Slow-toes, who instantly 
 dropped into the pool. The Deer, of course, when 
 the hunter got near, sprang up and made off, and when 
 he returned to the tree the Tortoise was gone also. 
 " I deserve this," thought he — 
 
 " Whoso for greater quits his gain, 
 Shall have his lahour for his pain ; 
 The things unwon unwon remain, 
 And what was won is lost again." 
 
 And so lamenting, he went to his village. Slow-toes 
 and his friends, quit of all fears, repaired together to 
 their new habitations, and there lived happily. 
 
44 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 Then spake tlie King Sudarsana's sons, " We have 
 heard every word, and are dehghted; it fell out just as 
 we wished." 
 
 " I rejoice thereat, my Princes," said Vishnu- Sarman; 
 " may it also fall out according to this my wish — 
 
 " Lakshmi give you friends like these ! 
 
 Lakshmi keep your lands in ease ! 
 
 Set, your sovereign thrones beside, 
 
 PoUcy, a Tvinsome bride ! 
 And He, whose forehead-jewel is the moon (") 
 Give peace to us and aU — serene and soon." 
 
45 
 
 TIE PAETING Of FEIENDS. 
 
 Then spake the Koyal Princes to Vislinu-Sarman, 
 " Eeverend Sir ! we have listened to the ' Winning of 
 Priends,' we would now hear how friends are parted." 
 
 " Attend, then," replied the Sage, " to * the Parting 
 of Friends,' the first couplet of which runs in this 
 wise — 
 
 " The Jackal set — of knavish cunning JWl — 
 At loggerheads the Lion and the SuU." 
 
 " How was that?" asked the sons of the Kajah. 
 Vishnu-Sarman proceeded to relate : — 
 
 Wi\t ^torg of i\\t %m, fire Jadiats, and 
 
 i\n Ml 
 
 " In the Deccan there is a city called Golden-town, 
 and a wealthy merchant lived there named Well-to-do. 
 
46 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 He Jbad abundant means, but as many of bis relations 
 
 were even yet richer, bis mind was bent upon outdoing 
 
 tbem by gaining more. Enough is never what we 
 
 have — 
 
 " Looking down on lives below them, men of little store are 
 great; 
 Looking up to higher fortunes, hard to each man seems his 
 fate." 
 
 And is not wealth won by courage and enterprise ? — 
 
 " As a bride, unwisely wedded, shuns the cold caress of eld, 
 So, from coward souls and slothfid, Lakshmi's favours turn 
 repelled." 
 
 " Ease, ill-health, home-keeping, sleeping, woman-service, and 
 content — 
 In the path that leads to greatness these be six obstructions 
 sent." 
 
 And wealth that increases not, diminishes — a little gain 
 is so far good — 
 
 " Seeing how the soorma (**) wasteth, seeing how the ant-hill 
 grows (*'), 
 Little adding unto little — live, give, learn, as life-time goes." 
 
 " Drops of water falling, falling, falling, brim the chatty (^ o'er ; 
 Wisdom comes in little lessons — little gains make largest store." 
 
 Moved by these reflections Well-to-do loaded a cart with 
 wares of aJl kinds, yoked two bulls to it, named Lusty- 
 life and Koarer, and started for Kashmir to trade. 
 He had not gone far upon his journey when in passing 
 through a great forest called Bramble-wood, Lusty-life 
 
THE PARTING OF FRIENDS. 47 
 
 slipped down and broke his foreleg. At sigM of this 
 disaster Well-to-do fell a thinking, and repeated, — 
 
 " Men their cunning schemes may spin — 
 God knows who shall lose or win." 
 
 Comforting himself with such philosophy. Well-to-do 
 left Lusty-life there, and went on his way. The Bull 
 watched him depart, and stood mournfully on three 
 legs, alone in the forest. 'Well, weU,' he thought, 
 ' it is all destiny whether I liTe or die: — 
 
 " Shoot a hundred shafts, the qiiarry lives and flies — ^not due to 
 death ; 
 "^Vhen his hour is come, 'a grass-hlade hath a point to stop his 
 hreath.'' 
 
 As the days passed hy, and Lusty-life picked about 
 in the tender forest grass, he grew wonderfully well, 
 and fat of carcase, and happy, and bellowed about the 
 wood as though it were his own. Now, the reigning 
 monarch of the forest was King Tawny-hide the Lion, 
 who ruled over the whole coTintiy absolutely, by right of 
 having deposed everybody else. Is not might, right? — ■ 
 
 " Robes were none, nor oil of unction, when the King of Beasts 
 was crowned : 
 'Twas his own fierce roar proclaimed him, rolling all his king- 
 dom round." 
 
 One morning, his Majesty, being exceedingly thirsty, 
 had repaii-ed to the bank of the Jumna to drink water, 
 
48 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 and just as he was about to lap it, the bellow of 
 Lusty-life, awful as the thunder of the last day, reached 
 the imperial ears. Upon catching the sound the King 
 retreated in trepidation to his own lair, without 
 drinking a drop, and stood there in silence and alarm 
 revolving what it could mean. In this position he 
 was observed by the sons of his minister, two jackals 
 named Karataka and Damanaka, who began to remark 
 upon it. 
 
 ' Friend Karataka,' said the last, what makes our 
 royal master slink away from the river when he was 
 dying to drink?' 
 
 'Why should we care?' replied Karataka. '"It's 
 bad enough to serve him, and be neglected for our 
 pains, — 
 
 " Oh, the bitter salt of service ! — ^toil, frost, fire, are not so keen : 
 Half such heavy penance bearing, tender consciences were 
 clean." 
 
 ' Nay, friend! never think thus,' said Damanaka, — 
 
 " What but for their vassals, 
 
 Elephant and man — 
 Swing of golden tassels, 
 
 "Wave of silken fan — 
 But for regal manner 
 
 That the ' Chattra' (") brings, 
 Horse, and foot, and banner — 
 
 What would come of kings ?" 
 
Tne Iv^onkev and the Wedse. 
 
THE PARTING OF FKIENDS. 49 
 
 'I care not/ replied Karataka; * we have nothing 
 to do with it, and matters that don't concern us are 
 best left alone. You know the story of the Monkey, 
 don't you?' — 
 
 " The Monkey drew the sawyer's wedge, and died : 
 Let meddlers mark it, and be edified." 
 
 ' No ! ' said Damanaka. ' How was it?' 
 ' In this way,' answered Karataka : — 
 
 WH f torg of the Ponkg and iltc MdQt 
 
 ' In South Behar, close by the retreat of Dhurmma (^-), 
 there was an open plot of ground, upon which a temple 
 was in course of erection, under the management of 
 a man of the Kayeth caste (^*), named Subhadatta. 
 A carpenter upon the works had partly sawed through 
 a long beam of wood, and wedged it open, and was gone 
 away, leaving the wedge fixed. Shortly afterwards a 
 large herd of monkeys came firoHcking that way, and 
 one of their number, directed doubtless by the Angel 
 of death, got astride the beam, and grasped the wedge, 
 with his tail and lower parts dangling .down between 
 the pieces of the wood. Not content with this, in the 
 mischief natural to monkeys, he began to tug at the 
 
 wedge ; till at last it yielded to a great effort and came 
 
 4 
 
50 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 oat ; when the wood closed upon him, and jammed him 
 all fast. So perished the monkey, miserahly crushed ; 
 and I say again, — 
 
 " Let meddlers mark it, and be edified." 
 
 ' But surely,' argued Damanaka, ' servants ai-e bound 
 to watch the movements of their masters ! ' 
 
 ' Let the prime miuist-er do it, then,' answered 
 Karataka; 'it is his business to overlook things, and 
 subordinates shouldn't interfere in the department of 
 their chief. You might get ass's thanks for it, — 
 
 " The Ass that hee-hawed, when the dog should do it. 
 For his lord's welfare, like an ass did rue it." 
 
 Damanaka asked how that happened, and Elarataka 
 related : — 
 
 ®hc ^brg of tli4 ^aslicrmait's Jacljass. 
 
 ' There was a certain Washerman (^*) at Benares, 
 whose name was Carpurapataka, and he had an Ass and 
 a Dog iu his court-yard; the first tethered, and the last 
 roaming loose. Once on a time, when he had been 
 spending his morning in the society of his wife, whom 
 he had just married, and had fellen to sleep in her 
 arms ; a robber entered the house, and began to carry 
 
THE PAETING OF EEIENDS. 51 
 
 off his goods. The Ass ohsei-red the occupation of the 
 thief, and was much concerned. 
 
 "Good Dog," said he, "this is thy matter: why 
 dost thou not hark aloud, and jouse the master?" 
 
 " Gossip Ass," rephed the Dog, " leaTe me alone 
 to guard the premises. I can do it, if I choose; but 
 the truth is, this master of ours thinks himseK so safe 
 lately that he clean forgets me, and I don't find my 
 allowance of food nearly regular enough. Masters will 
 do so; and a little fright will put him in mind of his 
 defenders again." 
 
 " Thou scurvy cur ! " exclaimed the Ass — 
 
 " At the work-time, asking wages — ^b it like a feithfiil herd ? " 
 " Thou extreme Ass! " replied the Dog. 
 
 " When the work's done, grud^g wages — is that acting like a 
 lord?" 
 
 " Mean-spirited heast," retorted the Ass, " who neg- 
 lectest thy master's business ! Well, then, I at least 
 wiU endeavour to arouse him; it is no less than rehgion, 
 
 " Serve the Sun -with sweat of hody; starve thy maw to feed the 
 flame (") ; 
 Stead thy lord with aU thy service ; to thy death go, quit of 
 blame.' ' 
 
 So saying, he put forth his very best braying. The 
 Washerman sprang up at the noise, and missing the 
 
 4—2 
 
52 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 thief, turned in a rage upon the Ass for distui-bing him, 
 and beat it with a cudgel to such an extent that the 
 blows resolved the poor animal into the five elements of 
 death. ' So that,' continued Karataka, ' is why I say. 
 Let the prime minister look to him. The hunting for 
 prey is otir duty — let us stick to it, then. And this,' he 
 said, with a meditative look, ' need not trouble us to- 
 day; for we have a capital dish of the royal leavings.' 
 
 ' "What ! ' said Damanaka, rough with rage, ' dost thou 
 serve the King for the sake of thy belly? Why take 
 any such trouble to preserve an existence like thine? — 
 
 " Many prayers for him are uttered whereon many a life relies; 
 'Tis but one poor fool the fewer when the gulping Raven dies." 
 
 For assisting friends, and defeating enemies also, the 
 service of kings is desirable. To enter upon it for a 
 mere living makes the thing low indeed. There must 
 be dogs and elephants; but servants need not be like 
 hungry curs, while their masters are noble. What say 
 the books? 
 
 " Give thy Dog the merest mouthfiil, and he crouches at thy feet. 
 Wags his tail, and fawns, and grovels, in his eagerness to eat ; 
 Bid the Elephant be feeding, and the best of fodder bring ; 
 Gravely — after much entreaty — condescends that mighty king." 
 
 ' Well, well!' said Karataka; ' the books are nothing 
 to us, who are not councillors.' 
 
THE PARTING OF FRIENDS. 53 
 
 ' But we may come to be,' replied Damanaka; ' men 
 rise, not by cliance or nature, but by exertions, — 
 
 " By their o^vn deeds men go downward, by them men mount 
 upward all, 
 Like the diggers of a well, and lilje the builders of a wall." 
 
 Advancement is slow — ^but that is in the nature of 
 
 tilings, — 
 
 " Rushes down the hill the crag, which upward 'twas so hard to roll : 
 So to virtue slowly rises — so to vice quick sinks the soul." 
 
 ' Very good,' observed Karataka; ' but what is aU this 
 talk about?' 
 
 'Why! don't you see our Eoyal Master there, and 
 how he came home without drinking? I know he has 
 been horribly frightened,' said Damanaka. 
 
 ' How do you know it?' asked the other, 
 
 ' By my perception — at a glance ! ' replied Damanaka; 
 ' and I mean to make out of this occasion that which 
 shaU put his Majesty at my disposal.' 
 
 ' Now,' exclaimed Karataka, ' it is thou who art 
 
 ignorant about service, — 
 
 " "Who speaks unasked, or comes unhid. 
 Or counts on favour — ^will be chid." 
 
 ' I ignorant about service ! ' said Damanaka ; ' no, no, 
 
 my friend, I know the secret of it, — 
 
 " Wise, modest, constant, ever close at hand. 
 Not weighing but obeying all command, 
 Such servant by a Monarch's throne may stand." 
 
54 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 ' In any case, the King often rates thee,' remarked 
 Karataka, ' for coming to the presence nnsummoned.' 
 
 ' A dependant,' replied Damanaka, ' should never- 
 theless present himself; he must make himself known 
 to the great man, at any risk, — 
 
 " Pitiful, that fearing failure, therefore no banning makes, 
 Who forswears his daily dinner for the chance of stomach- 
 aches?" 
 
 and besides, to he near is at last to be needful; — is it 
 
 not said, — 
 
 " Nearest to the King is dearest, be thy merit low or high ; 
 Women, creeping plants, and princes, twine round that which 
 groweth nigh." ' 
 
 ' Well,' inquired Karataka, ' what wilt thou say, being 
 come to him?' 
 
 ' First,' replied Damanaka, ' I will discover if Ms 
 Majesty is well affected to me.' 
 
 ' How do 3'ou compass that?' asked the other. 
 
 ' Oh, easily! by a look, a word,' answered Damanaka; 
 ' and that ascertained, I will proceed to speak what will 
 put him at my disposal.' 
 
 ' I can't see how you can venture to speak,' objected 
 the other, ' without an opportunity, — 
 
 " If Vrihaspati, the Grave (=«), 
 Spoke a sentence out of season. 
 Even Vrihaspati would have 
 
 Strong rebuke for such unreason." 
 
THE PARTING OF FHIENDS. 55 
 
 'Pray don't imagine I shall speak unseasonably,' 
 interrupted Damanaka; ' if that is all you fear, I will 
 start at once.' 
 
 ' Go, then,' said Karataka; ' and may you be as lucky 
 as you hope.' 
 
 " Thereupon Damanaka set out for the lair of King 
 Tawny-hide; putting on, as he approached it, the look 
 of one greatly disconcerted. The Eajah observed him 
 comiQg, and gave permission that he should di-aw near; 
 of which Damanaka availing himself, made reverential 
 prostration of the eight members and sat down upon 
 his haunches. 
 
 ' You have come at last, then. Sir Jackal ! ' growled 
 his Majesty. 
 
 'Great Monarch!' humbly replied Damanaka, 'my 
 service is not worthy of laying at your imperial feet, 
 but a servant should attend when he can perform a 
 service, and therefore I am come, — 
 
 " When Kings' ears itch, they use a straw to scratch 'em ; 
 When Kings' foes plot, they get wise men to match 'em." 
 
 ' H'm ! ' growled the Lion. 
 
 * Your Majesty suspects my intellect, I fear,' continued 
 the Jackal, ' after so long an absence from your Majesty's 
 feet; but, if I may say so, it is still sound.' 
 
 ' H'm ! ' growled the Lion again. 
 
 ' A king, may it please your Majesty, should know 
 
56 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 how to estimate his servants, whatever theii- posi- 
 tion, — 
 
 " Pearls are dull in leaden settings, but the setter is to blame ; 
 Glass will glitter like the ruby, dulled with dust — are they the 
 same?" 
 
 " And a fool may tread on jewels, setting in his crown mere glass; 
 Yet, at selling, gems are gems, and ferdels but for fardels pass." 
 
 ' SeiTants, gracious liege ! are good or tad as they are 
 entertained. Is it not written ? — 
 
 " Horse and weapon, lute and volume, man and woman, gift of 
 speech, 
 Have their uselessness or uses in the One who oivneth each." 
 
 ' And if I have been traduced to your Majesty as a dull 
 fellow, that hath not made me so, — 
 
 " Kot disparagement nor slander kills the spirit of the brave ; 
 Fhng a torch down, upward ever burns the brilliant flame it 
 gave." 
 
 ' Accept then. Sire, from the humblest of your slaves his 
 veij humble counsel — for 
 
 " Wisdom from the mouth of children be it overpast of none ; 
 What man scorns to walk by lamplight in the absence of the 
 sun?" 
 
 ' Good Damanaka,' said King Tawny-hide, somewhat 
 appeased, 'how is it that thou, so wise a son of our 
 first minister, hast been absent all this while from our 
 Court? But now speak thy mind fearlessly: what 
 wouldst thou?' 
 
THE PARTING OF FRIENDS. 57 
 
 'Will your Majesty deign to answer one question?' 
 said Damanaka. * Wherefore came He back from the 
 river without drinking V 
 
 ' Hush 1 ' whispered the King, ' thou hast hit right 
 upon my trouble. I knew no one unto whom I might 
 confide it ; but thou seemest a faithful fellow, and I will 
 tell thee. Listen, then,' continued his Majesty in an 
 agitated whisper, ' there is some awful beast that was 
 never seen before in this wood here ; and we shall have 
 to leave it, look you. Did you hear by chance the 
 inconceivable great roar he gave ? What a strong beast 
 it must be to have such a voice ! ' 
 
 ' May it please your Majesty, I did hear the noise,' 
 said the Jackal, ' and there is doubtless cause for ter- 
 rible apprehension therein ; but take comfort, my Liege, 
 he is n© minister who bids thee prepare for either war 
 or resignation. All will go well, and your Majesty 
 will learn by this difficulty, which be your best ser- 
 vants.' 
 
 ' Good Jackal,' said Tawny-hide, ' I am horribly 
 frightened about it.' 
 
 ' I can see that,' thought Damanaka ; but he only 
 said, ' Fear nothing, my Hege, while thy servant sur- 
 vives,' 
 
 ' What shall I do ?' asked the King. 
 
 ' It is well to encourage those who can avert disaster. 
 
58 THE BOOK OF GOOD COITNSELS. 
 
 If your Majesty condescended now to bestow some 
 favour on Karataka and tlie other ' 
 
 ' It shall be done,' said the Eajah ; and, summoning 
 the other Jackals, he gave them and Damanaka a mag- 
 nificent gift of flesh, and they left the presence, under- 
 taking to meet the threatened danger. 
 
 'But, brother,' began Karataka, 'haven't we eaten 
 the King's dinner without knomng what the danger is 
 which we are to meet, and whether we can obviate it ? ' 
 
 ' Hold thy peace,' said Damanaka, laughing ; ' I know 
 very well what the danger is ! It was a bull, aha ! that 
 bellowed — a buU, my brother — ^whose beef you and I 
 could pick, much more the King our master.' 
 
 ' And why not teU him so ?' asked Karataka. 
 
 ' What ! and quiet his Majesty's fears ! And where 
 would our splendid dinner have been then? •*ro, no, 
 my friend, — 
 
 " Set not yoTir lord at ease ; for, doing that, 
 MigM starve you as it starved ' Curd-ear' the Cat." 
 
 'Who was Curd-ear, the Cat?' inquired Karataka. 
 Damanaka related : — 
 
 ^hc ^tflrg jjf iU dfaf xvlxo screed flt^ 3m. 
 
 ' Far away in the North (*^), on a mountain named 
 ' Thousand- Crags," there lived a Hon called " Mighty- 
 
THE PARTING OF FlUENDS. 59 
 
 heart ; " and he was much annoyed by a certain mouse, 
 who made a custom of nibbling his mane while he lay 
 asleep in his den. The Lion would wake in a gi-eat 
 rage at finding the ends of his magnificent mane made 
 ragged, but the httle mouse ran into his hole, and he 
 could never catch it. After much consideration he went 
 down to a village, and got a Cat named Curd-ear to 
 come to his cave with much persuasion. He kept the 
 Cat royally on all kinds of dainties, and slept comfort- 
 ably without having his mane nibbled, as the mouse 
 would now never venture out. Whenever the Lion 
 heard the mouse scratching about, that was always a 
 signal for regaling the Cat in a most distinguished style. 
 But one day, the wretched mouse being nearly starved, 
 he toot courage to creep timidly from his hole, and was 
 directly ^oimced upon by Curd-ear and killed. After that 
 the Lion heard no more of the mouse, and quite left off 
 his regular entertainments of the Cat. No ! ' concluded 
 Damanaka, ' we will keep our mouse alive for his 
 Majesty.' 
 
 " So conversing, the Jackals went away to find Lusty- 
 life the Bull, and upon discovering him, Karataka 
 squatted down with great dignity at the foot of a tree, 
 while Damanaka approached to accost him. 
 
 ' Bull,' said Damanaka, ' I am the warder of this 
 forest under the King Tawny-hide, and Karataka the 
 
60 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 Jackal there is his General. The General bids thee 
 
 come before him, or else instantly depart from the wood. 
 
 It were better for thee to obey, for his anger is terrible.' 
 
 " Thereupon Lnsty-life, knowing nothing of the 
 
 country customs, advanced at once to Karataka, made 
 
 the respectftd prostration of the eight members, and 
 
 said timidly, ' My Lord General ! what dost thou bid 
 
 me do ? — 
 
 " Strength serves Beason. Saith the Mahout, when he beats the 
 brazen drum, 
 ' Ho ! ye elephants, to this work must your mightinesses come.' " 
 
 ' Bull,' answered Kara,taka, * thou canst remain in the 
 wood no longer unless thou goest directly to lay thyself 
 at our Royal master's imperial feet.' 
 
 ' My Lord,' replied the Bull, ' give me a guarantee of 
 safety, and I will go.' 
 
 ' Bull,' said Karataka, ' thou art foolish ; fear no- 
 thing,— 
 
 " When the King of Chedi («) cursed him, 
 Krishna scorned to make reply; 
 Lions roar the thunder quiet. 
 Jackals' -yells they let go by.'' 
 
 Our Lord the King will not vouchsafe his anger to thee ; 
 knowest thou not — 
 
 " Mighty natures war with mighty: when the raging tempests 
 blow. 
 O'er the green rice harmless pass they, but they lay the palm- 
 trees low." 
 
THE PARTING OF PEIENDS. 61 
 
 " So the Jackals, keeping Lusty-life in the rear, went 
 towards the palace of King Tawny -hide ; where the 
 Rajah received them with much graciousness, and hade 
 them sit down. 
 
 ' Have you seen him ?' asked the King. 
 
 ' We have seen him, your Majesty,' answered Dama- 
 naka ; ' it is quite as your Majesty expected — the 
 creature has enormous strength, and wishes to see your 
 Majesty. Will you he seated. Sire, and prepare yourself 
 — ^it will never do to appear alarmed at a noise.' 
 
 ' Oh, if it was only a noise,' hegan the Rajah. 
 
 ' Ah, hut the cause. Sire ! that was what had to be 
 found out ; like the secret of Swing-ear the Spirit.' 
 
 * And who might Swing-ear he ? ' asked the King. 
 
 ' A goblin, your Majesty,' responded Damanaka, ' it 
 seemed so, at least, to the good people of Brahmapoora. 
 A thief had stolen a bell from the city, and was making 
 off with that plunder, and more, into the Sri-parvata 
 hills, when he was killed by a tiger. The bell lay in 
 the jungle till some monkeys picked it up, and amused 
 themselves by constantly ringing it. The townspeople 
 found the bones of the man, and heard the noise of the 
 bell all about the hiUs ; so they gave out that there was 
 
62 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 a terrible devil there, whose ears rang like bells as he 
 swung them about, and whose delight was to devour 
 men. Every one, accordingly, was leaving the town, 
 when a peasant woman named liarala, who Hked belief 
 the better for a little proof, came to the Rajah. 
 
 " Highness ! " she observed, " for a consideration I 
 could settle this Swing-ear." 
 
 " You could !" exclaimed the Eajah. 
 
 "I think so ! " repeated the woman. 
 
 " Give her a consideration forthwith," said the Eajah. 
 
 ' Karala, who had her own ideas upon the matter, 
 took the present and set out. Being come to the bills, 
 she made a circle, and did homage to Gunputtee (^9), 
 without whom nothing prospers. Then, taking some 
 fruit she had brought, such as monkeys love extremely, 
 she scattered it up and down in the wood, and withdrew 
 to watch. Very soon the monkeys finding the fruit, put 
 down the bell, to do justice to it, and the woman picking 
 it up, bore it back to the tovm, where she became an 
 object of uncommon veneration. We, indeed,' con- 
 cluded Damanaka, ' bring you a Bull instead of a beU — 
 your Majesty shall now see him ! ' 
 
 " Thereupon Lusty-life was introduced, and, the in- 
 terview passing off well, he remained many days in the 
 forest on excellent terms with the Lion. 
 
 " One day another Lion, named ' Stiff-ears,' the 
 
THE PAKTING OF FRIENDS. 63 
 
 brother of King Tawny-liide, came to visit him. The 
 King received him with all imagiaable respect, bade him 
 be seated, and rose from his thi-one to go and kill some 
 beasts for his refreshment. 
 
 * May it please your Majesty,' interposed the BuU, * a 
 deer was slain to-day — where is its flesh ? ' 
 
 ' Danlanaka and his brother know best,' said the King. 
 
 ' Let us ascertain if there be any,' suggested the Bull. 
 
 ' It is useless/ said the King, laughing, — ' they leave 
 none.' 
 
 ' What ! ' exclaimed the Bull, ' have those Jackals 
 eaten a whole deer ?' 
 
 'Eaten it, spoiled it, and given it away,' answered 
 Tawny-hide ; ' they always do so.' 
 
 'And this without your Majesty's sanction?' asked 
 the Bull. 
 
 ' Oh ! certainly not with my sanction,' said the King. 
 
 ' Then,' exclaimed the Bull, ' it is too bad : and in 
 Ministers too ! — 
 
 " Narrow-necked to let out little, big of belly to keep much. 
 As a flagon is — the Vizier of a Sultan should be such.'' 
 
 ' No wealth wiU stand such waste, your Majesty, — 
 
 " He who thinks a minute little, like a fool misuses more ; 
 He who counts a cowry (") nothing, being wealthy, will be 
 poor." 
 
 ' A king's treasury, my liege, is the king's life.' 
 
64 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 ' Good brother,' observed Stiff-ears, wbo had heard 
 •what the Bull said, ' these Jackals are your Ministers 
 of Home and Foreign Affairs,-^ — they should not have 
 direction of the Treasury. They are old servants, too, 
 and you know the saying, — 
 
 " Brahmans, soldiers, these and kinsmen — of the three set none in 
 
 charge : • 
 
 For the Brahman, tho' you rack him, yields no treasure smaU or 
 
 large; 
 And the soldier, being trusted, •writes his quittance •with his 
 
 sword. 
 And the kinsman cheats his kindred by the charter of the word ; 
 But a servant old in service, worse than any one is thought, 
 "WTio, by long-tried Ucence fearless, knows his master's anger 
 
 nought." 
 
 Ministers, my royal brother, are often like obstinate 
 swellings that want squeezing, and yours must be kept 
 in order.' 
 
 ' They are not particularly obedient, I confess,' said 
 Ta^wny-hide. 
 
 ' It is very wrong,' replied Stiff-ears ; " and if you 
 ■will be advised by me — as we have banqueted enough 
 to-day — ^you vdll appoint this grain-eating and sagacious 
 Bull your Superintendent of Stores.' 
 
 ' It shall be so,' exclaimed the King. 
 
 " Lusty-life was accordingly appointed to serve out 
 the provisions, and for many days Tawny-hide showed 
 liir" favour beyond aU others in the Court. 
 
THE PARTING OF FRIENDS. 65 
 
 *' Now the Jaclcals soon found that food was no longer 
 so freely provided by this arrangement as before, and 
 they met to consult about it. 
 
 ' It is all our own fault,' said Damanaka, ' and people 
 must suffer for their own mistakes. You know who 
 said — 
 
 " I that could not leave alone 
 ' Streak-o'-Gold,' must therefore moan; 
 She that took the House-wife's place 
 Lost the nose from off her face. 
 Take this lesson to thy heart — 
 Fools for folly suffer smart." 
 
 ' No ! ' said Karataka, ' how was it ? ' Damanaka re- 
 lated : — 
 
 irli0 mx§msi f(jr lltciit own ^mli^. 
 
 ' In the city of " Golden-Streets " there reigned a 
 valorous King, named Vira-vikrama, whose of&cer of 
 justice was one day taking away to punishment a certain 
 Barber, when he Was stopped by a strolling mendicant, 
 who held him by the skirts, and cried out, " Punish not 
 this man — ^punish them that do wrong of their own 
 knowledge." Being asked his meaning, he recited the 
 foregoing verses, and, being still further questioned, he 
 told this story — 
 
 5 
 
66 THE BOOK OF GOOD OOUUSELS. 
 
 " I am Prince ICandai-pa-ketu, son of the King of 
 Ceylon. Walking one day in my summer-garden, I 
 heard a merchant-captain narrating how that out at sea, 
 deep under water, on the fourteenth day of the moon, 
 he had seen what was hke nothing but the famous tree of 
 Paradise (®'), and sitting under it a lady of most lustrous 
 heautv, bedecked ynth. strings of pearls like Liukshmi 
 herself, reclining, with a lute in her hands, on what 
 appeared to be a golden couch crusted all over with 
 precious stones. At once I engaged the captain and his 
 ship, and steered to the spot of which he told me. On 
 reaching it I beheld the beautiful apparition as he had 
 described it, and, transported with the exquisite beauty 
 of the lady, I leapt after her into the sea. In a moment 
 I found myself in a city of gold; and in an apartment 
 of a golden palace, surrounded by young and beautiful 
 girls, I found the Sea-queen. She perceived my 
 approach, and sent an attendant with a courteous 
 message to meet me. In reply to my questions, I 
 learned that the lady was the Princess Eatnamanjari, 
 daughter of the King of All the Spirits^-and how she. 
 had made a tow that whoever should first come to see 
 her golden city with his own eyes should marry her. 
 So I married her by the form called Gundharra (^^), or 
 ' Union by mutual consent,' and spent many and happy 
 days in her delightful society. One day she took me 
 
THE PARTING OF FRIENDS. 67 
 
 aside, and said, ' Dear Prince ! all these delights, and I 
 myself, are thine to enjoy ; only that picture yonder, of 
 the Fairy Streak-o'-Gold, that thou must never touch ! ' 
 For a long time I observed this injunction ; at last, im- 
 pelled by resistless curiosity, I laid my hand on the 
 picture of ' Streak-o'-Gold.' In one instant her little 
 foot, lovely as the lotus-blossom, advanced from out of 
 the painting, and launched me tkrough sea and air into 
 my own country. Since that I have been a miserable 
 wanderer ; and passing through this city, I chanced to 
 lodge at a Cowkeeper's hut, and saw the truth of this 
 Barber's affair. The herdsman returned at night with 
 his cattle, and found his wife talking with the wife of 
 the Barber, who is no better than a bawd. Enraged at 
 this, the man beat his wife, tied her to the milking-post, 
 and fell asleep. In the dead of the night the Barber's 
 wife came back, and said to the woman, ' He, whom 
 thou knpwest is burnt with the cruel fire of thine 
 absence, and lies nigh to death ; go therefore and con- 
 sole him, and I will tie myself to the post until thou 
 returnest.' This was done, and the Cowkeeper presently 
 awoke. '' Ah. ! thou light thing ! ' he said jeeringly, 
 ' why dost not thou keep promise, and meet thy gaUant ? ' 
 The Barber's vdfe could make no reply ; whereat becom- 
 ing ..incensed, the man cried out, 'What! dost thou 
 scorn to speak to me ? I will cut thy^nose off (^') ! ' And 
 
 5—2 
 
68 THE BOOK OF GOOD COU^"SELS. 
 
 SO he did, and then lay down to sleep again. Very soon 
 the Cowkeeper's wife came back and asked if ' all was 
 well.' ' Look at my face ! ' said the Barber's wife, ' and 
 you wUl see if all is well.' The woman could do nothing 
 but take her place again, while the Barber's wife, pick- 
 ing up the severed nose, and at a sad loss how to 
 account for it, went to her house. In the morning, 
 before it was light, the Barber called to her to bring his 
 box of razors, and she bringing one only, he flung it 
 away in a passion. ' Oh, the knave!' she cried out, 
 directly, aloud, ' Neighbours, neighbours ! he has cut 
 my nose off ! ' and so she took him before the of&cers. 
 The Cowkeeper, meantime, wondering at his wife's 
 patience, made some inquiry about her nose; whereto 
 she repHed, ' Cruel wretch ! thou canst not harm a 
 virtuous woman. If Yama and the seven guardians of 
 the world (**) know me chaste, then be my fe,ce un- 
 manned ! ' The herdsman hastened to fetch a light, and 
 finding her features unaltered, he flung himself at her 
 feet, and begged forgiveness. For, 
 
 " Kever tires the fire of burning, never wearies death of slaying, 
 Nor the sea of drinking rivers, nor the bright-eyed of betraying." 
 
 Thereupon the King's officer dismissed Kandarpa-ketu, 
 and did justice by setting the Barber free, shaving the 
 head of the Barber's wife (®*), and punishing the Cow- 
 keeper's. 
 
THE PARTING OF FRIENDS. 69 
 
 That is my story,' concluded Damanaka, ' and thence 
 I said that vre had no reason to complain.' 
 
 ' Well, but we must do something,' said Karataka. 
 
 ' Yes ! How shall we break the friendship of the 
 King with the BuU?' asked the other. 
 
 ' It is very strong,' observed Karataka. 
 
 ' But we can do it,' replied the other. 
 
 " WTiat force would fail to win, fraud can attain : 
 The Crow despatched the Serpent by a chain." 
 
 ' How did that occur ? ' asked Karataka." 
 Damanaka related : — • 
 
 i;iti{ ^lorg of i\xt llatit ^mU aiut lln| ^Mm 
 
 ' A pair of Crows had their abode in a certain tree, 
 the hollow of which was occupied by a black snake, who 
 had often devoured their young. The Hen-bird, finding 
 herself breeding again, thus addressed her mate : " Hus- 
 band, we must leave this tree ; we shall never rear 
 young ones while this black snake lives here ! You 
 know the saw — 
 
 " From false friends that breed thee strife, 
 From a house with serpents rife, 
 Saucy slaves and brawling wife — 
 Get thee out, to save thy life.'' 
 
70 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 " My dear," replied the Crow, " you need not fear ; I 
 have put up with him till I am tired. Now I will put 
 an end to him." 
 
 " How can you fight with a great Hack snake like 
 that ? " said the Hen -bird. 
 
 " Doubt nothing," answered the other — 
 
 " He that hath sense hath strength ; the fool is weak : 
 The Lion proud died hy the Hare so meek." 
 
 " How came that about ?" asked the Hen-Crow. 
 " Thus," repHed her mate : — 
 
 ©III} ^U\% 4 ilw, lian mxA iU ®U 'g-m. 
 
 " On the Mandara mountain there lived a Lion 
 named Fierce-of-heart, and he was perpetually making 
 massacre of all the wild animals. The thing grew so 
 bad that the beasts held a public meeting, and di-ew 
 up a respectful remonstrance to the Lion in these 
 words : — 
 
 ' Wherefore should your Majesty thus make carnage 
 of us all? If it may please you, we ourselves will daily 
 furnish a beast for your Majesty's meal.' The Lion 
 responded, 'If that arrangement is more agreeable to 
 you, be it so;' and from that time a beast was allotted 
 to him daily, and daily devoured. One day it came 
 
THE PARTING OF FRIENDS. 71 
 
 to the turn of an old hare to. supply the royal table, 
 "who reflected to himself as .he walked along, ' I can 
 hut die, and I ■will go to my death leisurely.' 
 
 "Now Fierce-of-heart, the lion, was pinched with 
 hunger, and seeing the Hare so approaching lie roared 
 out, ' How darest thou thus delay in coming?' 
 
 ' Sire,' replied the Hare,' I am not to blame. I was 
 detained .on the road by another lion, who exacted an 
 oath from me to return when I should have informed 
 your Majesty.' 
 
 'Go,' exclaimed ■ Eing Fierce-of-heart in a rage; 
 ' show me, instantly, where this insolent villain of a 
 lion lives.' 
 
 ".The iEare led the way accordingly tUl he came 
 to a deep well, whereat he .stopped, and said, ' Let 
 my lord the King come hither and (behold him.' The 
 . liion approached, and beheld his own reflection in the 
 water of the well, upon which, in his passion, he directly 
 flung himself, and so perished." 
 
 " I have heard your story," said the Hen-Crow, " but 
 what plan do you propose?" 
 
 " My dear," replied her mate, " the Eajah's son comes 
 
 . here every day to bathe ia the stream. ■ Wlien he takes 
 
 off his gold anklet, and lays it on the stone, do thou 
 
 bring it in thy beak to the hollow of the tree, and 
 
 drop it in there." Shortly after the Prince came, as 
 
72 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 was his wont, and taking off his dress and ornaments, 
 the Hen-Crow did as had been determiaed; and while 
 the servants of the Prince were searching in the hollow, 
 there they found the Black Snake, which they at once 
 dispatched. 
 
 ' Said I not well,' continued Damanaka, ' that 
 stratagem excels force?' 
 
 'It was weU said,' repHed Karataka; 'go! and may 
 thy path be prosperous ! ' 
 
 " With that Damanaka repaired to the King, and 
 having done homage, thus addressed him: — 
 
 'Your Majesty, there is a dreadful thing on my 
 mind, and I am come to disclose it.' 
 
 ' Speak ! ' said the King, with much graciousness. 
 ' Your Majesty,' said the Jackal, ' this BuU has been 
 detected of treason. To my face he has spoken con- 
 temptuously of the three prerogatives of the throne (^), 
 imto which he aspires.' 
 
 " At these words King Tawny-hide stood aghast. 
 ' Your Majesty,' continued Damanaka, ' has placed 
 him above us all in the Court. Sire! he must be 
 displaced ! — 
 
 " Teeth grown loose, and wicked-hearted ministers, and poison- 
 trees, 
 Pluck them by the roots together ; 'tis the thing that giveth ease." 
 
 'Good Jackal,' said the King, after some silence; 
 
THE PARTING OF FRIENDS. 73 
 
 'this is indeed dreadful; but my regard for the Bull 
 is very gi-eat, and it is said, — 
 
 " Long-tried friends are friends to cleave to — never leave thou 
 these i' the lurch : 
 What man shims the fire as sinful for that once it burned a 
 church?" 
 
 ' That is WTitten of discarding old servants, may it 
 please your Majesty,' observed Damanaka; ' and this 
 BuU is quite a stranger.' 
 
 ' Wondrous strange ! ' replied the Lion ; * when I 
 have advanced and protected him that he should plot 
 against me ! ' 
 
 ' Your Majesty,' said the Jackal, ' knows what has 
 been written, — 
 
 " Raise an evil soul to honour, and his evil bents remain; 
 Bind a cur's tail ne'er so straightly, yet it curleth up again.'' 
 
 ' How, in sooth, should Trust and Honour change the evil 
 nature's root ? 
 Though one watered them with nectar ("), poison-trees bear 
 deadly fruit." 
 
 I have now at least warned your Majesty : if evil comes, 
 the fault is not mine.' 
 
 ' It will not do to condemn the Bull without inquiry,' 
 mused the King ; then he said aloud, ' shall we ad- 
 monish him, think you, Damanaka ? ' 
 
 ' No, no. Sire ! ' exclaimed the Jackal, eagerly ; ' that 
 would spoil all our precautions, — 
 
74 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 "Safe within the hiisk of silence guard the seed of counsel so 
 That it hreak not — ^being broken, then the seedling -will not 
 grow." 
 
 "What is to be done must be done "with, despatch. After 
 jcensm-ing his treason, would your Majesty stUl .trust the 
 traitor ? — 
 
 " Whoso unto ancient fondness takes again a fhithless friend. 
 Like she-mules, that die conceiving, in iis folly finds . his 
 end." 
 
 ' But wherein can the. Bull injui'e me ?' asked Tawjiy- 
 hide; ' tell me that ! ' 
 
 ' Sii-e,' replied the Jackal, ' how can I tell it ? — 
 
 " Ask who his friends are, ere you scorn your foe ; 
 The Wagtail foiled the sea, that did not so." 
 
 ' How could that he ?' demanded King Tawny-hide. 
 " The Jackal related : — 
 
 ®Ite ^torg oji the Mn^tml m& ih §iK. 
 
 ' On the shore of the Southern Sea there dwelt a pair 
 of Wagtails. The Hen-hird was about to lay, and thus 
 addressed. her. jmate : — 
 
 ".Husband, we must look about for a fit place to lay 
 my eggs." 
 
 "My dear,". Teplied.the Cock-bird, "will not this 
 spot do?" 
 
THE PAUTING OF J'RIENDS. 75 
 
 " This spot ! " exdaimed the Hen ; " why, the tide 
 overflows it." 
 
 "Good dame," said .the Cock, ".am. I so pitiful a 
 fellow that the Sea wiU venture to wash .the eggs out of 
 my nest?" 
 
 " You are my very good Lord," replied the Hen, with 
 a laugh ; " but still there is a great difference between 
 ■ you and the Sea." 
 
 ' Afterwards, however, at the desire of her mate, she 
 consented to lay her eggs on the seaTbeach. Now the 
 Ocean had overheard all this, and, bent upon displaying 
 its strength, it rose and washed away the nest and eggs. 
 Overwhelmed with grief, the Hen-bird flew to her jnate, 
 and cried : — 
 
 " Husband, the tenible disaster has occurred ! My 
 eggs are gone ! " 
 
 " Be of good heart ! my Life," answered he. 
 
 ' And therewith he called a meeting of fowls, and 
 went with them into the presence of Gurud, the Lord of 
 the birds (^). When the Master of the Mighty Wing had 
 listened to their complaint, he conveyed it to the know- 
 ledge of the God Narayen(^9), who keeps.; and kills, and 
 makes alive the world. The almighty mandate given, 
 Gurud bound it upon his forehead, and bore it to the 
 Ocean, which, so soon as it heard the will of Narayen, 
 at, once gave back the eggs. 
 
76 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 ' How, indeed,' concluded Damanalia, ' should I judge 
 of the Bull's power, not knowing who supports him ? ' 
 
 ' By what signs, then,' asked the King, ' may I con- 
 clude him a traitor ? ' 
 
 ' If he comes into the presence with his horns lowered 
 for goring, as one that expects the fight. That,' replied 
 the Jackal, ' wUl convince your Majesty.' 
 
 " Thereupon Damanaka the Jackal withdrew, and 
 betook himself- towards the Bull, upon perceiving whom 
 he approached slowly, with aU the air of one greatly 
 distressed. 
 
 ' Good master Jackal,' said Lusty-life, ' what goes 
 amiss with thee?' 
 
 * All goes amiss with such as serve wicked masters,' 
 replied the Jackal. 
 
 ' But what aUs thee ?' asked the Bull. 
 
 ' Alas ! ' answered the Jackal, ' what can I say in such 
 
 a strait ! — 
 
 " Even as one who grasps a serpent, drowning in the bitter sea, 
 Death to hold and death to loosen — such is life's perplexity." 
 
 " And therewithal the Jackal heaved a deep sigh, and 
 squatted down. 
 
 ' But, good friend,' said the Bull, ' at least tell me 
 ■what is in thy mind.' 
 
 ' Bull,' began Damanaka, ' it is a King's secret, and 
 should not be spoken ; but thou didst come here upon 
 
THE PAETING OF FEIENDS. 77 
 
 my safeguard, and as I hope for tlie life to comeC^"), I 
 will tell thee of what touches thee so nearly. Listen ! — 
 the heart of the King is turned against thee ! he hath 
 sworn secretly that he will kill thee and feast upon thy 
 fiesh.' 
 
 " Then Lusty-life the Bull was sorely trouhled, and 
 he fell a-musiag thus, — 
 
 " Woman's love rewards the worthless — kings of knares exalters 
 be; 
 Wealth attends the selfish niggard, and the cloud rains on the 
 sea." 
 
 ' Can this he the Jackal's doing ?' he reflected. Going 
 with honest folk will not make one honest, — 
 
 " Many a knave wins fair opinions standing m fair company. 
 As the sooty soorma pleases, lighted by a briUiant eye." 
 
 Then he said aloud, ' wherein can I have angered the 
 King? Do kings hate without cause? I can tell 
 nothing, except that there is no happiness which abides 
 long,— 
 
 " Where the azure lotus (") blossoms, there the alligators hide ; 
 In the sandal-tree are serpents. Pain and pleasure live allied." 
 
 I thought his Majesty nohle as the sandal-ti-ee ; but 
 that, indeed, is not wholly nohle, — 
 
 " Rich the sandal — ^yet no part is but a vile thing habits there; 
 Snake and wasp haunt root and blossom ; on the boughs sit ape 
 and bear." 
 
78 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 ' Bull,' said Damanaka, ' I knew the King of old for 
 one whose tongue was honey and whose heart was 
 poison.' 
 
 ' But how very hard ! ' said the Bull, ' that he, heing 
 a Hon, should attack me, an innocent eater of grass !' 
 
 ' It is vei-y hard ! ' said the Jackal. 
 
 ' Who can have set him against me ? ' asked the Bull. 
 
 ' Being so, it cannot he hettered,' repUed the Jackal, 
 * whoever did it, — 
 
 " As a bracelet of crystal, once broke, is not mended ; 
 So the favour of princes, once altered, is ended." 
 
 ' Yes,' said the Bull, ' and a king incensed is ter- 
 rible, — 
 
 " Wratb of kings, and rage of lightning — both be very- full of 
 dread; 
 But one falls on one man only — one strikes many victims dead." 
 
 Stm, I can but die — and I. will, die fighting ! "When 
 death is certain, and no hope left hut in hattle, that is 
 the. time for war.' 
 
 ' It is so,' said the Jackal. 
 
 " Having weighed aU this. Lusty-life inquired of the 
 Jackal by what signs he .might conclude the King's 
 hostile intentions. 
 
 ' If he glowers upon thee,' answered Damanaka, ' and 
 awaits thee with ears pricked, tail stiffened, paw up- 
 
THE PARTING Or IFEIENDS. 79 
 
 raised, and muzzle agape, then thou mayest get thee to 
 thy weapons like a Bull of spirit, for 
 
 "All men scorn the soulless coward who his manhood doth 
 forget : 
 On a lifeless heap of ashes fearlessly the foot is set." 
 
 " Then Damanaka the Jackal returned to the Lion, 
 and said to him : — 
 
 ' If it please your Majesty,,ihe traitoris now coming ; 
 let your Majesty be on your guard, with ears pricked 
 and paw upraised.' 
 
 " The Bull meanwhile approached, and observing the 
 hostile attitude of King Tawny-hide, he also lowered 
 his horns, and prepared for the combat. A terrible 
 battle engued, and at the last King Tawny-hide slew 
 Lusty-life the Bull. Now when the Bull was dead, the 
 Lion was very sorrowful, and as he sat on his throne 
 lamenting, he said, — 
 
 ' I repent me of this deed ! — 
 
 " As when an Elephant's life-hlood is spilt, 
 Another hath the spoils (''•^ — ^mine is the guUt." 
 
 ' Sire,' rephed the Jackal, ' a King over-merciful is 
 like a Brahman that eats all things equally (7^). May 
 aU your Majesty's enemies perish as did this Bull.' 
 
80 THE EOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 " Thus endeth," said the Sage Vishnu- Sarman, " the 
 ' Parting of Friends.' " 
 
 " We are gratified exceedingly thereby," replied the 
 Sons of the King. 
 
 " Let me then close it thus," said their Preceptor, — 
 
 " So be friendship never parted. 
 
 But among the evil-hearted ; 
 
 Time's sure step drag, soon or later, 
 
 To his judgment, such a Traitor ; 
 
 Lady Lukshmi, of her grace, 
 
 Grant good fortune to this place ; 
 And you, Koyal hoys ! and hoys of times to be. 
 In this fair fable-garden wander free." 
 
81 
 
 W AE. 
 
 When the next day of instruction was come, the King's 
 sons spake to the Sage, Vishnu-Sarman. 
 
 " Master," said they, " we are Princes, and the sons 
 of Princes, and we earnestly desire to hear thee dis- 
 course upon War." 
 
 " I am to speak on what shall please you," replied 
 Vishnu-Sarman. " Hear now, therefore, of ' War,' 
 whose opening is thus : — 
 
 " Between the peoples of Peacock and Swan (") 
 War raged; and evenly the contest ran, 
 Until the Swans to trust the Crows began." 
 
 "And how was all that?" asked the sons of the 
 Eajah. Vishnu-Sarman proceeded to relate — 
 
 6 
 
82 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 gitc Jattlc of i\\t ^luans and |cawrhs. 
 
 " In the Isle of Camphor there is a lake called 
 ' Lotus-water,' and therein a Swan-Eoyal, named ' Sil- 
 ver-sides,' had his residence. The birds of the marsh 
 and the mere had elected him King, in full council of 
 all the fowls — for a people with no ruler is like a ship 
 that is without a helmsman. One day King Silver- 
 sides, with his courtiers, was quietly reposing on a 
 couch of well-spread lotus-blossoms, when a Crane, 
 named ' Long-bill,' who had just arrived from foreign 
 parts, entered the presence with an obeisance, and sat 
 down. 
 
 ' What news from abroad. Long-bill ? ' asked his 
 Majesty. 
 
 ' Great news, may it please you,' answered the Crane, 
 ' and therefore have I hastened hither. Will your 
 Majesty hear me ? ' 
 
 ' Speak ! ' said King Silver-sides. 
 
 ' You must know, my Liege,' began the Crane, ' that 
 over all the birds of the Vindhya mountains C^) in 
 JambudwipaC^) a PeacOek is King, and his name is 
 " Jewel-plume." I was looking for food about a certain 
 burnt jungle there, when some of his retainers discovered 
 me, and asked my name and country. " I am a vassal oi 
 
WAE. 83 
 
 ,\Kiiig Silver-sides, Lord of the Island of Camphor," I 
 replied, "and I am traTeUing in foreign lands for my 
 pleasure." Upon that the birds asked me which coun- 
 try, my own or theirs, and which King, appeared to me 
 superior. " How can you ask ?" I replied ; "the island 
 of Camphor is, as it were. Heaven itself, and its King 
 a heaven-horn ruler. To dwellers in a barren land like 
 yours how can I describe them ? Come for yourselves, 
 and see the country where I live." Thereupon, your 
 Majesty, the birds were exceedingly offended, as one 
 might expect, — 
 
 " Simple milk, when serpents drink it, straightway into venom 
 turns; 
 And a fool who heaxeth comisel all the wisdom of it spurns." 
 
 For, indeed, no reflecting person wastes time in admo- 
 
 .nishing blockheads — 
 
 " The birds that took the apes to teaching, 
 Lost eggs and nests in pay for preaching." 
 
 ' How did that befall ? ' asked the King. 
 .The Crane related : — 
 
 ' In a nullah that leads down to. the Nerbudda river 
 there stood a large silk-cotton tree, where a colony of 
 
 6—2 
 
84 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 weaver-birds had built their hanging nests ('^), and lived 
 
 snugly in them, whatever the weather. It was in the 
 
 rainy season, when the heavens are overlaid with clouds 
 
 like indigo-sheets, and a tremendous storm of water 
 
 was falling. The birds looked out from their nests, and 
 
 saw some monkeys, shiveriag and starved with the cold, 
 
 standing under the tree. " Twit! twit! you Monkeys," 
 
 they began to chirrup. " Listen to us ! — 
 
 " With beaks we built these nests, of fibres scattered ; 
 You that have hands and feet, build, or be spattered." 
 
 On hearing that the Monkeys were by no means pleased. 
 " Ho ! ho ! " said they, " the Birds ia their snug nests 
 are jeering at us ; wait till the rain is over." Accord- 
 ingly, so soon as the weather mended, the Monkeys 
 climbed into the tree, and broke all the birds'eggs and 
 demolished every nest. I ought to have known better,' 
 concluded the Crane, ' than to have wasted my sug- 
 gestions on King Jewel-plume's creatures.' 
 
 ' But what did they say?" asked SUver-sides. 
 
 ' They said, Kajah,' answered the Crane, * " who 
 made that Swan of thine a King ? ' " 
 
 ' And what was your reply ? " asked Silver-sides. 
 
 ' I demanded,' replied the Crane, ' who made a King 
 of that Peacock of theirs. Thereupon they were readj 
 to kill me for rage ; but I displayed my very best valour 
 Is it not written — 
 
WAE. 85 
 
 " A modest manner fits a maid, 
 
 And Patience is a man's adorning ; 
 But brides may kiss, nor do amiss, 
 And men may draw, at scathe and scorning." 
 
 ' Yet a man should measure his own strength first,' 
 said the Kajah, smiling ; ' how did you fare against 
 King Jewel-plume's fellows?' 
 
 ' Very scurvily,' replied Long-bUl. ' " Thou rascal 
 Crane," they cried, " dost thou feed on his soil, and 
 revile our Sovereign ? That is past bearing ! " And 
 thereat they all pecked at me. Then they began again: 
 " Thou thick-skulled Crane ! that King of thine is a 
 goose — a web-footed lord of littleness — and thou ai-t but 
 a frog in a well ("^) to bid us serve him — ^him for- 
 sooth ! — 
 
 " Serving narrow-minded masters dwarfs high natures to their 
 size: 
 Seen before a convex mirror, elephants do show as mice." 
 
 Bad kings are only strong enough to spoil good vassals 
 — as a fiction once was mightier than a herd of elephants. 
 You know it, don't you? — 
 
 " Mighty may prove things insignificant : 
 A tale of moonshine turned an elephant." 
 
 ' No ! how was that ?' I asked. 
 The birds related — 
 
86 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 mu ^k\% dI llie m& 'iK\t and i\u (gljfjjhanis. 
 
 ' Once on a time, very little rain had fallen in the 
 due season ; and the Elephants being oppressed "with 
 thirst, thus accosted their leader : — ' Master, how are 
 we to live ? The small creatures find something to wash 
 in, but we cannot, and we are half dead in consequence ; 
 whither shall we go then, and what shall we do ? ' Upon 
 that the King of the Elephants led them away a little 
 space; and showed them a beautiful pool of crystal 
 water, where they took then- ease. Now it chanced 
 that a company of Hares resided on the banks of 
 the pool, and the going and coming of the elephants 
 trampled many of them to death, tiU one of their 
 number named Hard-head grumbled out, ' This troop 
 will be coming here to water every day, and every one of 
 our family wiU be crushed.' ' Do not disquiet yourself," 
 said an old buck named Good-speed, ' I wiU contrive 
 to avert it,' and so saying, he set off, bethinking him- 
 self on his way how he should approach and accost a 
 herd of elephants; for, 
 
 " Elephants destroy by touching, snakes with point of tooth 
 beguile; 
 Kings bj' favour kill, and traitors murder with a fetal smile." 
 
 ' I will get on the top of a hiU,' he thought, ' and 
 address the Elephants thence.' 
 
The Old Hare and the Elephants. 
 
WAE. 87 
 
 " This being done, and the Lord of the herd per- 
 ceiving him, it was asked of the Hare, ' Who art thou? 
 and whence comest thou ? ' 
 
 ' I am an ambassador from his Godship the Moon,' 
 replied Good-speed. 
 
 ' State your business,' said the Elephant-king. 
 
 ' Sire, began the Hare, ' an ambassador speaks the 
 truth safely by charter of his name. Thus saith the 
 Moon, then: " These hares were the guardians of my 
 pool, and thine elephants in coming thither have scared 
 them away. This is not well. Am I not ' Sasanka C^^), 
 whose banner bears a hare, and are not these hares 
 my votaries?'" 
 
 'Please .your worship,' said the Elephant-king with 
 much trepidation, 'we knew nothing of this; we will 
 go there no more.' 
 
 ' It were well,' said the sham : ambassador, 'that you 
 first made^'your apologies to the. Divinity, who is quaking 
 with rage in his pool, and then went about your 
 business.' 
 
 * We will do so,' replied the Elephant with meek- 
 ness; and being led by night to the pool, in the 
 ripples of which the image of the' Moon was quiver- 
 ing, the herd made their prostrations ; the Hare ex- 
 plaining to the Moon that their fault was done in 
 ignorance, and thereupon they got their dismissal." 
 
88 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 ' Nay,' I said, * my Sovereign is no fiction, but a great 
 King and a noHe, and one that might govern the Three 
 Worlds, much more a kingdom.' 
 
 * Thou shalt talk thy treason in the presence,' they 
 cried ; and therewith I was dragged before King Jewel- 
 plume. 
 
 ' Who is this ?' asked the Eajah. 
 
 ' He is a servant of King Silversides, of the Island of 
 Camphor,' they repHed ; ' and he sHghts your Majesty, 
 on your Majesty's own land.' 
 
 * Sirrah Crane ! ' said the Prime Slinister, a Vulture, 
 ' who is chief officer in that court ?' 
 
 ' A Brahmany Goose,' I answered, ' named " Know- 
 all ; " and he does know every possible science.' 
 
 ' Sire,' broke in a Pan-ot, ' this Camphor-isle and the 
 rest are poor places, and belong to Jambu-dwipa. Your 
 Majesty has but to plant the royal foot upon them.' 
 
 ' Oh ! of course,' said the King. 
 
 ' Nay,' said I, ' if talking makes your Majesty King of 
 Camphor-island, my Liege may be lord of Jambu-dwipa 
 by a better title.' 
 
 ' And that ?' said the Parrot. 
 
 ■ Is fighting ! ' I responded. 
 
 ' Good ! ' said the King, with a smile ; ' bid your 
 people prepare for war.' 
 
 ' Not so,' I replied ; ' but send your ovm ambassador,' 
 
WAE. 89 
 
 'Who will bear the message?' asked the Rajah. 
 ' He should he loyal, dexterous, and hold.' 
 
 ' And virtuous,' said the Vulture, ' and therefore a 
 
 Brahman : — 
 
 " Better Virtue marked a herald than that noble blood should 
 deck; 
 Shiva reigns for ever Shiva [vfMle the sea-wave stains his 
 neck C")." 
 
 ' Then let the Parrot be appointed,' said the Eajah. 
 
 ' I am your Majesty's humble sei-vant,' replied the 
 
 Parrot ; ' but this Crane is a bad character, and with 
 
 the bad I never like to travel. The ten-headed Ravana 
 
 carried off the wife of Ramchundra (^^) ! It does not do, 
 
 " With evil people neither stay nor go ; 
 The Heron died for being with the Crow.^' 
 
 ' How did that befell ?' asked the King. The Parrot 
 
 related : — 
 
 ©he ^tflrijT of tli4 Ifiimt nnH ihe^ ^vm. 
 
 ' The high-road to Oogein is a very unshaded and 
 sultry one ; but there stands upon it one large Peepul- 
 tree (^-), and therein a Crow and a Heron had their 
 residence together. It was in the hot weather that a tired 
 traveller passed that way, and, for the sake of the shade, 
 he laid his bow and arrows down, and dropped asleep 
 under the tree. Before long the shadow of the- tree 
 
90 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 sMfted, and left his face exposed to the glare; which the 
 Heron perceiving, like the kindly bird he was, perched 
 on the Peepul-tree, and spread his wings out so as to 
 cast a shadow on the traveller's face. There the poor 
 feUow, weary ■ndth his travel, continued to sleep soundly, 
 and snored away comfortably with open mouth. The 
 sight of his enjoyment was too much for the malevolent 
 Crow, who, perching over him, dropped an unwelcome 
 morsel into the sleeper's mouth, and straightway flew 
 off. The traveller, startitag from his slumber, looked 
 about, and, seeing no bird but the Heron, he fitted an 
 arrow and shot binr) dead. No ! ' concluded the Parrot, 
 ' I like the society of honest folk.' 
 
 'But why these words, my brother?' I said ; 'his 
 Majesty's herald is to me even as his Majesty.' 
 
 ' Very fine ! ' replied the Parrot ; ' but — 
 
 " Kindly courtesies that issue from a snuling villain's mouth 
 Serve to startle, like a flower blossoming in time of drouth." 
 
 Needs must that thou art a bad man ; for by thy talk 
 war will have arisen, which a little conciliation had 
 averted : — 
 
 " Conciliation ! — weapon of the wise ! 
 Wheedled therewith, by woman's quick device, 
 The Wheelwright let his ears betray his eyes." 
 
 ' How came that about ? ' asked the King. The 
 Parrot related :^ 
 
WAR. 91 
 
 ' There was a WHeelwriglit in Sliri-nuggur, wliose 
 name was "Heavy-head.". He had good reason to suspect , 
 theinfidelity of.his wife, but he had no absolute proof 
 of it. One day he gave out that he should go to a 
 neighbouring town, and he started accordingly; but he 
 went a very little] way, and then returning, hid himself 
 in his" wife's chamber. She being quite satisfied that he 
 was reaUy gone away, invited her gallant to pass the 
 evening with her, and began . to spend it with him .in 
 unrestrained freedom. Presently by chance she detected 
 the presence of lier husband, and Tier manner instantly 
 changed. 
 
 " Life of my soul! what aUs you? " said her lover ; 
 "you are quite duU to-night." 
 
 "I am dull," she repHed, " because the lord of my 
 life is gone. Without my husband the town is a wilder- 
 ness. "Who knows what may befall him, and whether 
 he will have a nice supper ? " 
 
 "'Trouble- thyself no nrore about the quarrelsome 
 dullard," said her gallant. 
 
 " DuUard, quotha!" exclaimed the wife. "What 
 matter what he is, since he is my all ? Knowest thou 
 not — 
 
92 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 " Of the mfe the lord is jewel, though no gems upon her beam ; 
 Lacking him, she lacks adornment, howsoe'er her jewels gleam? " 
 
 Thon, and the like of thee, may seiTe a whim, as we 
 chew a betel-leaf (^') and trifle with a flower ; hut my 
 hnsband is my master, and can do with me as he wUl. 
 My.Ufe is wrapped up in him — and when he dies, alas ! 
 I wiU certainly die too. Is it not plainly said — 
 
 " Hairs three-crore, and half-a-crore hairs, on a man so many 
 grow — 
 And so many years to Swerga shall the true wife surely go ? " 
 
 And better stUl is promised ; as herein — 
 
 " Whenthe faithful wife C),embracingtenderly her husband dead, 
 Mounts the blazing pile beside him, as it were the bridal-bed ; 
 Though his sins were twenty thousand, twenty thousand times 
 
 o'er-told, 
 She shall bring his soul to splendour, for her love so large and 
 
 bold." 
 
 All this the Wheelwright heard. " What a lucky 
 feUow I am," he thought, " to have a wife so virtuous," 
 and rushing from his place of concealment, he exclaimed 
 in ecstasy to his wife's gaUant, " Sir ! saw you ever truer 
 wife than mine ? " 
 
 " When the story was concluded," said Long-bill, 
 " the King, with a gracious gift of food, sent me off 
 before the Parrot ; but he is comitig after me, and it is 
 now for your Majesty to determine as it shall please 
 
 you." 
 
WAE. 93 
 
 " My Liege," observed the Brahmany-goose with a 
 sneer, " the Crane has done the King's business in 
 foreign parts to the best of his power, which is that of a 
 fool." 
 
 " Let the past pass," rephed the King, " and take 
 thought for the present." 
 
 " Be it in secret, then, your Majesty," said the Brah- 
 many-goose — 
 
 " Counsel unto six ears spoken, unto all is notified : 
 "When a King holds consultation, let it be ■with one beside." 
 
 Thereupon all mthdi-ew, but the Eajah and the 
 Minister. 
 
 " What think you?" said Silver-sides. 
 
 " That the Crane has been employed to bring this 
 about," replied the other. 
 
 " What shall we do? " asked the King. 
 
 " Despatch two spies — the first to inform and send 
 back the other, and make us know the enemy's strength 
 or weakness. They must be such as can travel by land 
 and water, so the Crane wiU serve for one, and we will 
 keep his family in pledge at the King's gate. The other 
 must be a very reserved character ; as it is said — 
 
 " Sick men are for skilful leeches— prodigals for prisoning — 
 Fools for teachers — and the man who keeps a secret, for a 
 King." 
 
 " I know such an one," said his Majesty, after a pause. 
 
94 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 " It is half tlie victory," responded the Minister. 
 
 At this juncture a chamherlain entered with a pro- 
 found obeisance, and announced the arrival from Jambu- 
 dwipa of the Parrot. 
 
 " Let him be shown to a reception-room," com- 
 manded the Goose, in reply to a look from the King. 
 " He shall presently have audience." 
 
 " War is pronounced, then," said the King, as the 
 attendant withdrew. 
 
 "It is offered, my Liege ; but must not be jrashly 
 accepted," replied the other — 
 
 " With gift, craft, promise, cause thy foe to yield ; 
 When these have &iled thee, xhallenge him a-field." 
 
 To gain time for expedients is the first point. Expe- 
 dients are good for great and little matters equally, 
 like 
 
 " The subtle wash of waves, that smoothly pass. 
 But lay the tree as lowly as the grass." 
 
 Xet his Excellency the Parrot, then, be cajoled and de- 
 tained here, while we place our fort in condition to be 
 useful. Is it not said — 
 
 " Ten true bowmen on a rampart fifty's onset may sustain ; 
 Fortalices keep a country more than armies in the plain ?" 
 
 And your Majesty," continued the Goose, " will recall 
 the points of a good fortress, — 
 
WAE. 95 
 
 " Build it strong, and build it spacious, with an entry and retreat ; 
 Store it -well with wood and water, fill its garners fuU with 
 wheat." 
 
 "Whom, then, shall we entrust with this work?" 
 asked King Silver-sides. 
 
 " The Paddy-bird («=) is a good bird, and a skUful," 
 replied his Minister. 
 
 "Let him he summoned!" said the Eing. And 
 upon the entrance of the Paddy-bird, the superintend- 
 ence of the fortress was committed to him, and accepted 
 with a low prostration. 
 
 "As to the fort. Sire!" remarked the Paddy-bird, 
 "it exists already in yonder large pool; the thing is 
 to store the island in the middle of it with provisions, — 
 
 " Grems wUl no man's life sustain ; 
 Best of gold is golden grain." 
 
 "Good!" said King. Silver-sides; "let it be looked 
 to." Thereupon, as the Paddy-bird was retiring, the 
 Uslier entered again, and making prostration, said: 
 " May it please your Majesty, the King of aU the Crows, 
 Night-cloud by name, bas just arrived from Singhala- 
 dwipa, {^) and desires to lay his homage at yom- 
 Majesty's feet." 
 
 "He is- a wise. bird, and a far- travelled," said the 
 .King; " I think we must give him audience." 
 
 " Nevertheless, Sire,", interrupted the Ooose, " we 
 
96 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 must not forget that he is a land-bird, and therefore 
 not to he received as a -water-fowl. Your royal memory 
 doubtless retains the story of 
 
 " The Jackal's fiite, who being coloured blue, 
 Leaving his party, left his own life too." 
 
 "No! How was that?" asked King Silver-sides. 
 The Goose related — 
 
 ©k ^torg of the iiTcd Jacltnl. 
 
 ' A Jackal once on a time, as he was prowling about 
 the suburbs of a town, slipped into an indigo-tank; 
 and not being able to get out he laid himself down 
 so as to be taken for dead. The dyer presently coming, 
 and finding what seemed a dead Jackal, carried him 
 into the jungle and then flung him away. Left to 
 himself, the Jackal found his natural colour changed 
 to a splendid blue. ' Really,' he reflected, ' I am now 
 of a most magnificent tint; why should 1 not make 
 it conduce to my elevation?' With this view, he assem- 
 bled the other Jackals, and thus harangued them: — 
 
 ' Good people, the Goddess of the "Wood, with her 
 own divine hand, und with every magical herb of the 
 forest, has anointed me King. Behold the complexion 
 
The Dved Jackal. 
 
 P. 97 
 
WAE. 97 
 
 of royalty ! — and henceforward transact nothing Tvithout 
 my imperial permission." 
 
 " The Jackals, overcome by so distinguished a colour, 
 could do nothing hut prostrate themselves and promise 
 obedience. His reign, thus begun, extended in time 
 to the lions and tigers; and with these high-born at- 
 tendants he allowed himself to despise the Jackals, 
 keeping his own kindred at a distance, as though 
 ashamed of them. The Jackals were indignant, but 
 an old beast of their number thus consoled them ; — 
 
 ' Leave the impudent fellow to me. I wiU contrive 
 his ruin. These tigers and the rest think him a King, 
 because he is coloured blue; we must show them his 
 true colours. Do this, now! — in the evening-time copie 
 close Ibout him, and set up a great yeU together — he 
 is sure to join in (^), as he used to do,— 
 
 " Hard it is to conquer nature : if a dog were made a King, 
 Mid the coronation trumpets, he would gnaw his sandal-string." 
 
 And when he yells the Tigers will know him for a 
 Jackal and Ml upon him.' 
 
 " The thing befeU exactly so, and the Jackal," con- 
 cluded the Minister, " met the fate of one who leaves 
 his proper party." 
 
 " Still," said the King, " the Crow has come a long 
 way, and we might see him, I think." 
 
 7 
 
98 THE BOOK OP GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 " Admit the Parrot first. Sire," said the Goose ; " the 
 fort has been put in order and the spy despatched." 
 
 ' Thereupon a Court was called, and the Parrot in- 
 troduced, followed by Night-cloud the Crow. A seat 
 was offered to the Parrot, who took it, and, with his 
 beak in the air, thus deHvered his mission : — 
 
 " King SUver-sides ! — ^My master, the King Jewel- 
 plume, Lord of Lords, bids thee, if life and lands be 
 dear to thee, to come and make homage at his august 
 feet ; and failing this to get thee gone from Camphor- 
 island." 
 
 "S'death!" exclaimed the Kajah, "is there none 
 that will silence this traitor ?" 
 
 " Give the sign, your Majesty," said the Crow, start- 
 ing up, and I will despatch this audacious bird.'"' 
 
 " Sir," said the Goose, " be calm ! and Sire, deign to 
 listen,-:- 
 
 " 'Tis no Council where no Sage is — ^tis no Sage that feaxs not 
 Law; 
 'Tis no Law which Truth xon&ms not — ^"tis no Truth which 
 Fear can awe." 
 
 An ambassador must speak unthreatened, — 
 
 " Though base be the Herald, nor hinder nor let, 
 For the mouth of a king is he ; 
 The sword may be whet, and the battle set, 
 But the word of his message is free." 
 
WAE. 99 
 
 Thereat the Eajah and Night-cloud resumed their 
 composure ; and the Parrot took his departure, escorted 
 by the Minister, and presented with complimentary gifts 
 of gold and jewels. On reaching the palace of Jewel- 
 plume, the King demanded his tidings, and inquired of 
 the country he had visited. 
 
 " War must be prepared, may it please you," said the 
 PaiTot : " the country is a counti-y of Paradise." 
 
 " Prepare for war, then ! " said the King. 
 
 " We must not ent«r on it in the face of destiny," 
 interposed the Vulture-Minister, whose title was " Far- 
 sight." 
 
 " Let the Astrologer then discover a favourable con- 
 junctTire for the expedition, and let my forces be reviewed 
 meantime," said the King. 
 
 " We must not march without great circumspection," 
 observed Far-sight. 
 
 " Minister ! " exclaimed the King, " you chafe me. 
 Say, however, with what force we should set out." 
 
 " It should be well selected, rather than unwieldy," 
 repHed the Vulture — 
 
 " Better few and chosen fighters than of shaven-crowns a host, 
 For in headlong flight confounded, with the base the brave are 
 lost." 
 
 And its commanders must be judiciously appointed ; for 
 it is said — 
 
 7—2 
 
100 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 " Ever absent, harsh, unjustly portioning the captured prey — 
 These, and cold or laggard leaders make a host to melt away." 
 
 " AJi! " interrupted the Rajah, " what need of so 
 much talk ? "We -will go, and, if Vachaspati (*^) please, 
 we will conquer." 
 
 Shortly afterwards the Spy returned to Camphor- 
 island. " King Silver-sides," he cried, " the Rajah, 
 Jewel-plume, is on his way hither, and has reached the 
 Ghauts (^). Let the fort be manned, for that Vulture 
 is a great minister ; and I have learned, too, that there 
 is one among us who is ia his pay." 
 
 " King!" said the Goose, " that must be the Crow." 
 
 " But whence, then, did he show such wUHngness to 
 punish the Parrot ? " objected his Majesty. " Besides, 
 war was declared long after the Crow came to Court." 
 
 " I misdoubt him," said the Minister, " because he 
 is a stranger." 
 
 " But strangers surely may be well-disposed," replied 
 the King. " How say the books? — 
 
 " Kind is kin, howe'er a stranger — kin unkind is stranger shown ; 
 Sores hurt, though the body breeds them — drugs relieve, though 
 desert-grown." 
 
 Haye you never heard of King Sudraka and the unknown 
 Servant, who gave his son's life for the King? " 
 " Never," answered the Goose. 
 
WAE. 101 
 
 mx<i f torg of tJtii 4aitlt|ut fajuoflt. 
 
 " I will tell you the tale," said tlie King, " as I heard 
 it from ' Lilyflower,' daughter of the Flamingo ' White- 
 flag,' of whom I was once very fond : — A soldier pre- 
 sented himself one morning at King Sudraka's gate, 
 and bade the porter procure an audience for ' Vira-vara, 
 a Eajpoot' (9°), who sought employment. Being ad- 
 mitted to the presence, he thus addressed the King : — 
 
 ' If your Highness needs an attendant, behold one ! ' 
 
 * What pay do you ask ?' inquired the King. 
 
 ' Five hundred pieces of gold a-day,' said Vira-vara. 
 
 ' And your accoutrements ? ' asked the King. 
 
 ' Are these two arms, and this sabre, which serve for 
 a third,' said Vira-vara, rolling up his sleeve. 
 
 ' I cannot entertain you,' rejoined his Majesty ; and 
 thereupon the Eajpoot made salaam, and withdrew. Then 
 said the Ministers, ' If it please your Majesty, the stipend 
 is excessive, but give him pay for four days, and see 
 wherein he may deserve it.' Accordingly, the Eajpoot 
 was recalled, and received wages for four days, with the 
 complimentaiy betel (9^). — ^Ah ! the rare betel! Truly 
 say the wise of it — 
 
 " Betel-nut is bitter, hot, sweet, spicy, binding, alkaline — 
 A demulcent — an astringent — ^foe to evUs intestine ; 
 
102 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 Giving to the breath a fragrance — ^to the Kps a crimson red ; 
 A detergent, and a kindler of Love's flame that Ueth dead. 
 Praise the gods for the good Betel ! — these he thirteen virtues 
 
 given, 
 Hard to meet in one thing blended, even in their happy heaven." 
 
 " Now the King naiTowly watched the spending of 
 Vira-vara's pay, and discovered that he bestowed half in 
 ■the service of the Gods and the support of Brahmans, 
 a fourth part in relieving the poor, and reserved a fourth 
 for his sustenance and recreation. This daily division 
 made, he would take his stand with his sabre at the gate 
 of the palace ; retiring only upon receiving the royal 
 permission. 
 
 " It was on the fourteenth night of the dark half of 
 the month (9^) that King Sudraka heard below a sound of 
 passionate sobbing. ' Ho ! there,' he cried, ' who waits 
 at the gate?' 
 
 ' I,' replied Vira-vara, ' may it please you.' 
 
 ' Go and learn what means this weeping,' said the 
 King. 
 
 ' I go, your Majesty, answered the Rajpoot, and there- 
 with departed. 
 
 " No sooner was he gone than the Kin g repented him 
 of sending one man alone into a night so dark that a 
 bodkin might pierce a hole in it, and girding on his 
 scimitar, he followed his guard beyond the city gates. 
 When Vira-vara had gone thus far he encountered a 
 
WAK. 103 
 
 beautiful and splendidly-dressed lady who was weeping 
 bitterly ; and accosting her, he requested to know her 
 name, and why she thus lamented. 
 
 ' I am the Fortune (9^) of the King Sudraka,' an- 
 swered she ; * a long while I have lived happily in the 
 shadow of his arm ; but on the third day he will die, and 
 I must depart, and therefore lament I.' 
 
 * Can nothing serve. Divine Lady, to prolong thy 
 stay?' asked the Rajpoot. 
 
 ' It might he,' replied the Spirit, ' if thou shouldst 
 cut off the head of thy first-bom Shaktidhar, that hath 
 on his body the thirty-two auspicious marks (-*) of 
 greatness. Were his head offered to the aU-helpful 
 Durga, the Rajah should live a hundred years, and I 
 might tarry beside him.' 
 
 " So speaking, she disappeared, and Vira- vara retraced 
 his steps to his own house and awoke his wife and son. 
 They arose, and listened with attention until Vira- vara 
 had repeated all the words of the vision. When he had 
 finished, Shaktidhar exclaimed, ' I am thrice happy to 
 be able to save the state of the King. Kill me, my 
 father, and linger not ; to give my life in such a cause is 
 good indeed.' ' Yes,' said the Mother, ' it is good, and 
 worthy of our blood; how else should we deserve the 
 King's pay?' Being thus agreed, they repaired to- 
 gether at once to the temple of the Goddess Durga, and 
 
104 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 having paid their devotions and entreated the favour of 
 the deity on behalf of the King, Vira-vara struck off his 
 son's head, and laid it as an offering upon the shrine. 
 That done, Vira-vara said, ' My service to the King is 
 accomplished, and life without my boy is but a burden,' 
 and therevsith he plunged his sword in his own breast 
 and fell dead. Overpowered with grief for her husband 
 and child, the mother also withdi-ew the twice-blooded 
 weapon, and slew herself with it on the bodies of Vira- 
 vara and Shaktidhar. 
 
 " All this was heard and seen by King Sudi-aka, and 
 he stood aghast at the sad sight. ' Woe is me ! ' he 
 exclaimed, — 
 
 " Kings may come, and Kings may go ; 
 What was I, to bring these low ? 
 Souls so noble, slain for me. 
 Were not, and will never be ! " 
 
 What reck I of my realm, having lost these?' and 
 thereat he drew his scimitar to take his own life also. 
 At that moment there appeared to him the Goddess, 
 who is Mistress of aU men's fortunes. ' Son,' said she, 
 staying his lifted hand, ' forbear thy rash purpose, and 
 bethink thee of thy kingdom.' 
 
 " The Eajah feU prostrate before her, and cried, — 
 ' Goddess ! I am done with life and wealth and kino-- 
 dom ! If thou hast compassion on me, let my death 
 
WAR 105 
 
 restore these faithiiil ones to life ; anywise I follow the 
 path they have marked.' ' Son,' replied the Goddess, 
 ' thine affection is pleasing to me : he it as thou wilt ! 
 The Rajpoot and his house shall be rendered alive to 
 thee.' Then the King departed, and presently saw 
 Vira-vara return, and take up again his station as before 
 at the palace-gate. 
 
 ' Ho ! there, Vu-a-vara ! ' cried the King, ' what meant 
 the weeping?' 
 
 ' Let your Majesty rest well ! ' answered the Rajpoot, 
 ' it was a woman who wept, and disappeared on my 
 approach.' This answer completed the Rajah's astonish- 
 ment and delight ; for we know — 
 
 " He is brave whose tongue is silent of the trophies of his sword ; 
 He is great whose quiet bearing marks his greatness well 
 assured." 
 
 So when the day was come, he called a faU council, and, 
 declaring therein all the events of the night, he invested 
 the faithful guard with the sovereignty of the Carnatic. 
 
 " Thus, then," concluded King Silver-sides, " in en- 
 tertaining strangers a man may add to his friends." 
 
 " It may well be," replied the Goose ; " but a Minister 
 
 should advise what is expedient, and not what is pleasing 
 
 in sentiment : — 
 
 " When the Priest, the Leech, the Vizier of a King his flatterers 
 be. 
 Very soon the King will part with health, and wealth, and piety." 
 
106 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUITSELS. 
 
 " Let it pass, then," said Silver-sides, " and turn we 
 to the matter in hand. King Jewel-plume is even 
 now pitched under the Grhauts. What think you ?" 
 
 " That we shall vanquish him," replied the Goose ; 
 " for he disregards, as I learn, the counsel of that great 
 statesman, the Vulture Far-sight ; and the wise have 
 said, — 
 
 " Merciless, or money-loving, deaf to counsel, false of feith. 
 Thoughtless, spiritless, or careless, changing course with every 
 
 breath, 
 Or the man who scorns his rival — ^if a prince should choose a foe, 
 Ripe for meeting and defeating, certes he would choose him so." 
 
 He is marching without due preparation ; let us send 
 the Paddy-hird at the head of a force and attack him on 
 his march." 
 
 Accordingly the Paddy-hird, setting out with a force 
 of water-fowl, fell upon the host of the Peacock-king, and 
 did immense execution. Disheartened thereat. King 
 Jewel-plume summoned Far-sight his Minister, and 
 acknowledged to him his precipitation. 
 
 " Wherefore do you abandon us, my father ?" he said. 
 " Correct for us what has been done amiss." 
 
 " My Liege," replied the Vulture, " it has been well 
 observed, — 
 
 " By the valorous and unsMliiil great achievements are not 
 wrought ; 
 Courage, led by careful Prudence, unto highest ends is brought." 
 
WAE. 107 
 
 YoTi have set Strength in the seat of Counsel, your 
 Majesty, and he hath clumsily spoiled your plans. How 
 indeed could it fall otherwise ? for, — 
 
 " Grief kills gladness, winter sununer, midnight-gloom the light 
 of day, 
 Kindnesses ingratitude, and pleasant friends drive pain away ; 
 Each ends each, hut none of other surer conquerers can he 
 Than Impolicy of Fortune — of Misfortune Policy." 
 
 I have said to myself, ' My Prince's understanding is 
 affected — how else would he ohscure the moonlight of 
 policy with the night- vapours of talk ;' in such a mood 
 I cannot help him,— 
 
 " Wisdom answers all who ask her, but a fool she cannot aid ; 
 Blind men in the faithful mirror see not their reflection made.'' 
 
 And therefore I have been absent." 
 
 " My father ! " said the King, joining his palms in 
 respect, " mine is all the fault ! Pardon it, and 
 instruct me how to withdraw my army without further 
 loss." 
 
 Then the Vulture's anger melted, and he reflected, — 
 
 " Where the Gods are, or thy Guru ('*) — ^in the face of Pain and 
 ■Age, 
 Cattle, Brahmans, Kings, and Children — ^reverently curb thy 
 rage." 
 
 And with a benignant smile, he answered the King thus, 
 "Be of good heai-t, my Liege; thou shalt not only 
 
108 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 bring the host hack safely, hut thou shalt first destroy 
 the castle of King Silyer-sides." 
 
 "How can that be, with my diminished forces?" 
 asked the Eajah. 
 
 "It wOl come to pass!" answered the Vulture. 
 " Break up to-day for the blockade of the fort." 
 
 Now, when this was reported by the spies to King 
 SUver-sides, he was greatly alarmed. " Good Goose!" 
 said he, "what is to be done? Here is the King of 
 the Peacocks at hand, to blockade us, — ^by his Minister's 
 advice too." 
 
 " Sire," replied the Goose, " separate the efficient 
 and the inefficient in your force ; and stimulate the 
 loyalty of the first, with a royal bounty of gold and 
 dresses, as each may seem to merit. Now is the time 
 for it, — 
 
 " Oh, my Prince ! on eight occasions prodigality is none — 
 In the solemn sacrificing, at the wedding of a son, 
 When the glittering treasure given makes the proud invader 
 
 bleed. 
 Or its lustre bringeth comfort to the people in their need, 
 Or when kinsmen are to succour, or a worthy work to end. 
 Or to do a mistress honour, or to welcome back a friend." 
 
 " But is this expenditui-e needed?" said the King. 
 " It is needed, my Liege," said the Goose, " and 
 it befits a Monarch; for, — 
 
WAK. 109 
 
 " Truth, munificence, and valour, are the virtues of a King ; 
 Koyalty, devoid of either, sinks to a rejected thing.'' 
 
 " Let it he incurred then ! " replied the King. 
 
 At this moment Night-cloud, the Crow, made his 
 appearance. "Deign me one regard. Sire," said he, 
 "the insolent enemy is at our gates; let your Majesty 
 give the word, and I will go forth and show my valour 
 and devotion to your Crown." 
 
 " It were better to keep our cover," said the Goose. 
 " Wherefore else bmlded we this fortalice ? Is it not 
 said? — 
 
 " Hold thy vantage ! — alligators on the land make none afi-aid ; 
 And the lion's but a jackal that hath left his forest-shade." 
 
 But go, your Majesty, and encourage our warriors." 
 Thereupon they repaired to the Gateway of the Fort, 
 and all day the battle raged there. 
 
 It was the morning after, when King Jewel-plume 
 spake thus to his Minister the Vulture — " Good sir, 
 shall thy promise be kept to us?" 
 
 " It shall be kept, your Majesty," replied the Vulture; 
 "storm the fort!" 
 
 "We will storm it!" said the Peaeock-Hng. The 
 sun was not well risen accordingly when the attack 
 was made, and there arose hot fighting at all the four 
 gates. It was then that the traitorous Crows, headed 
 
110 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 by theii- monarch. Night-cloud, put fire to eveiy dwell- 
 ing in the citadel, and raised a shout of " The Fort 
 is taken! it is taken!" At this terrible sound the 
 soldiers of the Swan-king forsook their posts, and 
 plunged into the pool. 
 
 Not thus King Silver-sides: — retiring coolly before 
 the foe, with his General the Paddy-bird, he was cut 
 off and encircled by the troopers of King Jewel-plume, 
 under the command of his Marshal the Cock. 
 
 " My General," said the King, " thou shalt not 
 perish for me. Fly ! I can go no farther. Fly ! I bid 
 thee, and take counsel with the Goose that Crest-jewel, 
 my son, be named King! " 
 
 " Good my Lord," replied the Paddy-bird, " speak 
 not thus ! Let your Majesty reign victorious while the 
 sun and moon endui-e. I am governor of your Majesty's 
 fortress, and if the enemy enter it he shall but do so 
 over my body; let me die for thee, my Master! — 
 
 " Gentle, generous, and discerning ; such a Prince the Gcods do 
 give ! " 
 
 " That shalt thou not ! " replied the Eajah, — 
 
 " Skilful, honest, and true-hearted ; where doth such a Vassal 
 live?" 
 
 " Nay! my royal Lord, escape!" cried the Paddy- 
 bu'd; a king's life is the life of his people, — 
 
WAR. Ill 
 
 " The people are the lotus-leaves, their monarch is the sun — 
 When he doth sink beneath the waves they vanish every one. 
 When he doth rise they rise again with bud and blossom rife, 
 To bask awhile in his warm smile, who is their lord and Ufe." 
 
 " Think no more of me." At tliis instant the Cock 
 rushing forward, inflicted a wound with his sharp spurs 
 on the person of the King; but the Paddy-bird sprang 
 in front of him, and receiving on his body the blows 
 designed for the Kajah, forced him away into the pool. 
 Then turning upon the Cock, he despatched him with 
 a shower of blows from his long bill; and finally suc- 
 cumbed, fighting in the midst of his enemies. Thus 
 the King of the Peacocks captured the fortress; and 
 marched home with all the treasure in it, amid songs 
 of \ictory. 
 
 Then spake the Princes : — " In that army of the 
 Swans there was no soldier like the Paddy-bfrd, who 
 gave his own life for the King's." 
 
 " There be nowhere many such," replied Vishnu- 
 Sarman; "for 
 
 " All the cows bring forth are cattle-^-only now and then is born 
 An authentic lord of pastures, with his shoulder-scratching 
 horn." n 
 
112 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 " It is well spoken," said the Princes. 
 
 " But for him that dares to die so," added the Sage, 
 " may an eternal heaven be reserved, and may the 
 lustrous Angels of Paradise, the Apsaras (9'), conduct 
 him thither! Is it not so declared, indeed? — 
 
 " When the soldier in the battle lays his life down for his king, 
 Unto Swerga's perfect glory such a deed his soul shall bring." 
 
 " It is so declared," said the Rajah's sons. 
 
 " And now, my Princes," concluded Vishnu-Sarman, 
 " you have listened to ' War.' " 
 
 " We have listened, and are gratified," repHed the 
 sons of the King. 
 
 " Let me end then," said their Preceptor, " with 
 this, — 
 
 " If the clouds of Battle lower 
 
 When ye come into your power, 
 
 Durga grant the foes that dare you 
 
 Bring no elephants to scare you ; 
 
 Nor the thunderous rush of horses, 
 
 Nor the footmen's steel-ftinged forces : 
 But overblown by Policy's strong breath, 
 Hide they in caverns from the avenging death." 
 
113 
 
 PEACE. 
 
 When tlie time came for resuming instmction, the 
 "King's sons said to Vishnu-Sarman, " Master, we haye 
 heard of war, we would now learn somewhat of the 
 treaties which foUow war." " It is well asked," replied 
 the Sage; "listen therefore to 'Peace,' which hath 
 this commencement — 
 
 " When those great Kings their weary war did cease. 
 The Vulture and the Ooose concluded Peace." 
 
 " How came that?" asked the Princes. 
 Vishnu-Sarman related: — 
 
114 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 ^\x^ i^watg Mwmx tln{ fcatodis mxA 
 t\u ^icans. 
 
 " So soon as Eling Jewel-plume liad retreated, tlie 
 first care of King Silver-sides was the discovery of the 
 treason that had cost him the fort. 
 
 ' Goose,' he said to his Miaister, ' who put the fire 
 to oui- citadel, think you? "Was it an enemy or an 
 inmate ? ' 
 
 ' Sire,' replied the Goose, ' Night-cloud and his 
 followers are nowhere to he seen, — ^it must needs he 
 his work.' 
 
 ' It must needs be,' sighed the King, after a pause ; 
 ' but what ill-fortune ! ' 
 
 ' If it please your Majesty, no,'.repHed the Minister; 
 * it is written, — 
 
 " 'Tis the fool who, meeting trouble, straightway destiny reviles ; 
 Knowing not his own misdoing brought his own mischance the 
 whiles." 
 
 You have forgotten the saying, — 
 
 " Who listens not, when true friends counsel well, 
 Must iall, as once the foolish Tortoise felL" 
 
 ' I never heard it,' said the King. ' How was that?' 
 The Goose related — 
 
PEACE. 115 
 
 Sihe ^toriJ af the iJoiiioisij m& i\x^ ^m^. 
 
 ' There is a pool in South Behar called the " Pool 
 of the Blue Lotus," and two Geese had for a long time 
 lived there. They had a friend in the pool who was 
 a Tortoise, and he was known as ' Shelly-neck.' It 
 chanced one eyening that the Tortoise overheard some 
 fishermen talking hy the water. " We wUl stop here 
 to-night," they said, " and in the morning we will 
 catch the fish, the tortoises, and such like." Extremely 
 alarmed at this, the Tortoise repaired to his friends 
 the Geese, and reported the conversation. 
 
 " What ever am I to do. Gossips?" he asked. 
 
 " The first thing is to he assured of the danger," 
 said the Geese. 
 
 " I 0.7/1 assured," exclaimed the Tortoise; "the first 
 thing is to avoid it: don't you know? — 
 
 " ' Time-not-come ' C) and ' Quiek-at-Peril,' these two fishes 
 'scaped the net; 
 ' What-will-be- will-be,' he perished, by the fishermen beset." 
 
 " No," said the Geese, " how was it?" Shelly-neck 
 related: — 
 
 8—2 
 
116 THE BOOIC OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 Sfhc ^tfli'g o| <Jfaf(j and tlie S^Iirijc J[islies. 
 
 " It was just such a pool as this, and on the arrival 
 at it of just such men as these fishermen, that three 
 fishes, who had heard thek designs, held consultation 
 as to what should be done. 
 
 * I shall go to another water,' said " Time-not-come," 
 and away he went. 
 
 ' Why should we leave unless obliged?' asked " Quick- 
 at-peril." ' "VThen the thing befalls I shall do the best 
 lean, — 
 
 " Who deals with bad dilemmas well, is wise. 
 The merchant's wife, with womanly device. 
 Kissed — and denied the kiss — ^under his eyes." 
 
 'How was that?' asked the other fish. Quick-at- 
 peril related : — 
 
 ®hc f torg flf tite Unabashed Wift. 
 
 ' There was a trader in Viki-ama-poora, who had a 
 very beautiful wife, and her name was Jewel-bright. 
 The lady was as unfaithful 'as she was fair, and had 
 
PEACE. 117 
 
 chosen for her last lover one of the household servants. 
 Ah! woman-kind! — 
 
 " Sex, that tires of being true, 
 Base and new is brave to you ! 
 Like the jungle-cows ye range, 
 Changing food for sake of change." 
 
 Now it befell one day that as Jewel-hright was bestowing 
 a Mss on the mouth of the servant, she was surprised 
 by her husband; and seeing him she ran up hastily 
 and said, " My lord, here is an impudent varlet! he 
 eats the camphor which I procured for you; I was 
 actually smellLug it on his hps as you entered." The 
 servant catching her meaning, affected offence. " How 
 can a man stay in a house where the mistress is always 
 smelling one's lips for a little camphor?" he said; and 
 thereat he was for going off, and was only constrained 
 by the good man to stay, after much entreaty. ' There- 
 fore,' said Quick-at-perU, ' I mean to abide here, and 
 make the best I can of what befalls, as she did.' 
 ' Yes, yes,' said "What-will-be-will-be, ' we all know 
 
 " That which will not be will not be, and what is to be will be : 
 Why not drink this easy physic, antidote of misery?" 
 
 " When the moming came, the net was thrown, and 
 both the fishes inclosed. Quick-at-peril, on being 
 drawn up, feigned himself dead; and upon the fisher- 
 
118 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 man's laying him aside, lie leaped off again into the 
 water. As to What-mll-be-will-be, he was seized and 
 
 forthwith despatched. And that," concluded the 
 
 Tortoise, " is why I wish to devise some plan of escape." 
 
 " It might be compassed if yon could go elsewhere," 
 said the Geese, " but how can you get across the 
 ground?" 
 
 "Can't you take me through the air?" asked the 
 Tortoise. 
 
 " Impossible !" said the Geese. 
 
 " Not at aU ! " replied the Tortoise ; " you shall hold 
 a stick across in your bills, and I will hang on to it by 
 my mouth — and thus you can readUy convey me." 
 
 " It is feasible," observed the Geese, " but remember, 
 
 " Wise men their plans revolve, lest ill befall ; 
 The Herons gained a friend, and so, lost all." 
 
 " How came that about ?" asked the Tortoise. The 
 Geese related : — 
 
 §h ^toiig of the lerjjns and i\u JKonfloosu. (^^) 
 
 " Among the mountains of the north there is one 
 named Eagle-cliff, and near it, upon a fig-tree, a flock of 
 Herons had their residence. At the foot of the tree, in 
 a hollow, there lived a serpent; and he was constantly 
 
PEACE. 119 
 
 devouring the nestlings of the Herons. Loud were the 
 complaints of the parent birds, until an old Heron thus 
 advised them : — ' You should bring some fishes from 
 the pool, and lay them one by one in a line from the 
 hole of yonder Mongoose to the hollow where the Ser- 
 pent lives. The Mongoose will find him when it comes 
 after the fish, and if it finds him it will kill him.' 
 The advice seemed good, and was acted upon; but in 
 HUing the Snake the Mongoose overheard the cry of the 
 young Herons ; and climbing the tree daily, he de- 
 voured all that the Snake had left. Therefore," con- 
 cluded the Geese, " do we bid you look well into your 
 plan : if you should open your mouth, for instance, as 
 we carry you, you will drop and be killed." 
 
 "Am I a fool," cried the Tortoise, "to open my 
 mouth ? Not I ! Come now, convey me ! " 
 
 ' Thereupon the Geese took up the stick ; the Tor- 
 toise held fast with his mouth, and away they flew. 
 The country people, observing this strange sight, ran 
 after. 
 
 " Ho ! ho ! " cried one, " look at the flying Tortoise ! " 
 
 " When he falls we'll cook and eat him here," said 
 another. 
 
 "No; let us take him home for dinner!" cried a 
 third. 
 
120 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 " We can light a fire by the pool, and eat him," said 
 the first. 
 
 ' The Tortoise heard these unkind remarks in a 
 towering passion. "Eat me]! — eat ashes ! " he exclaimed, 
 opening his mouth — and down he fell directly, and was 
 caught by the countrymen. Said I not well,' con- 
 cluded the Goose-Minister, ' that to scorn counsel is to 
 seek destruction ?' 
 
 ' You have well said,' replied "King Silver-sides, dis- 
 consolately. 
 
 ' Yes, your Majesty,' interposed the Crane, who was 
 just returned, ' if the Fort had been cleared. Night- 
 cloud could not have fired it, as he did, by the Vulture's 
 instigation.' 
 
 ' We see it all,' sighed the King, ' but too late ! ' — 
 
 " Whoso trusts, for service rendered, or feir words, an enemy. 
 Wakes from folly like one falling in his slomher from a tree." 
 
 ' I witnessed Night-cloud's reception,' continued the 
 Crane. ' King Jewel-plume showed him great favour, 
 and -was for anointing him Eajah of Camphor-island.' 
 
 ' Hear you that, my Liege ?' asked the Goose. 
 
 ' Go on ; I hear ! ' said Silver-sides. 
 
 ' To that the Vulture demurred,' continued the Crane: 
 — * " favour to low persons," he said, " was like writing 
 
PEACE. 121 
 
 on the sea-sand. To set the base-born in the seat of 
 the great was long ago declared impolitic, — 
 
 " Give mean men power, and give thy throat to the knife ; 
 The Mouse, made Tiger, sought his master's life." 
 
 "How was that?" asked King Jewel-plume. The 
 Vulture related, — 
 
 ©lie ^torg rtf the ^crlusc and the ^flus^. 
 
 " In the forest of the Sage Gautama there dwelt a 
 Recluse named Mighty-at-Prayer. Once, as he sat at his 
 frugal meal, a young mouse dropped beside him from the 
 beak of a crow, and he took it up and fed it tenderly with 
 rice grains. Some time after the Saint observed a cat 
 pursuing his dependant to devour it, whereupon he 
 changed the mouse into a stout cat. The cat was a 
 great deal harassed by dogs, upon which the Saint again 
 transformed it into a dog. The dog was always in 
 danger of the tigers, and his protector at last gave him 
 the form of a tiger — considering him aU this while, and 
 treating him withal, like nothing but a mouse. The 
 country-folk passing by would say, ' That a tiger ! not 
 he ; it is a mouse the Saint has transfonned.' And the 
 mouse being vexed at this, reflected, * So long as the 
 
122 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 Master lives, this shameful story of my origin ■will sur- 
 vive ! ' With this thought he was about to take the 
 Saint's life, when he, who knew his purpose, turned the 
 ungrateful beast by a word to his original shape. Besides, 
 your Majesty," continued the Vulture, " it may not be 
 so easy to take in Camphor-island, — 
 
 " Many fine fishes did the old Crane kill, 
 But the Crab matched hun, maugre all his bill." 
 
 " How came that to pass ?" asked Jewel-plume. 
 ' The Vulture related : — 
 
 S^he ^ioiig af i\u djrane amt tin; djrab. 
 
 " There was an old Crane at a mere called LUy- water, 
 in Malwa, who stood one day in the shallows with a 
 most dejected look and droopiag bill. A Crab observed 
 him and called out, ' Friend Crane ! have you given up 
 eating, that you stand there all day?' 'Nay, sir!' 
 replied the old Crane ; ' I love my dish of fish, but I 
 have heard the fishermen say that they mean to capture 
 every one that swims in this water ; and as that destroys 
 my hope of subsistence, I am resigning myself to death.' 
 All this the fishes overheard. ' In this matter certainly,' 
 they said, ' his interest is ours ; we ought to consult 
 him; for it is written, — 
 
PEACE. 123 
 
 " Fellow be with kindly foemen, rather than with friends unkind; 
 Friend and foeman are distinguished not by title but by mind." 
 
 Thereupon they repau-ed to him : * Good Crane,' they 
 
 said, * what course is there for safety ? ' 
 
 ' Course of safety there is,' replied the Crane, ' to go 
 elsewhere ; and I will carry you one by one to another 
 pool, if you please.' 
 
 ' Do so,' said the tremhlLng fishes. 
 
 " The Crane accordingly took one after another, and 
 having eaten them reiiurned with the report that he 
 had safely deposited each. Last of all, the Crab re- 
 quested to be taken ; and the Crane, coveting his tender 
 flesh, took him up with gi-eat apparent respect. On 
 arriving at the spot, which was covered with fish-bones, 
 the Crab perceived the fete reserved for him; and turn- 
 ing round he fastened upon the Crane's throat and tore 
 it so that he perished." 
 
 " Well, but," said King Jewel-plume, " we can make 
 Night-cloud viceroy here, to send over to Vindhya all 
 the productions of Camphor-isle ! " 
 
 ' Then the Vulture Far-sight laughed a low laugh and 
 
 said,— 
 
 " Who, ere he makes a gain has spent it, 
 Like the Pot-breaker ("") will repent it." 
 
 "What was that?" asked the King. Far-sight re- 
 lated : — 
 
124 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 ®Iic ^tarjy of ih ^raltman and Hit |atts. 
 
 " There was a Brahman in the city of Vana, whose 
 name was Deva Sarman. At the equinoctial feast of the 
 Dussera, he obtained for liis duxina-gift a dish of flour, 
 which lie took into a potter's shed; and there lay down 
 in the shade among the pots, staff in hand. As he thus 
 reclined he began to meditate, " I can seU this meal for 
 ten cowrie-shells, and with them I can purchase some of 
 these pots and sell them at an advance. With aU that 
 money I shall invest in betel-nuts and body-cloths and 
 make a new profit by their sale; and so go on trafficking 
 till I get a lakh of rupees — ^what's to prevent me ? 
 Then I shall marry four wives — and one at least wiU be 
 beautiful and young, and she shall be my favourite. Of 
 course the others will be jealous; but if they quarrel, 
 and talk, and trouble me I will belabour them like this — 
 and this " — ^and therewith he flourished his staff to such a 
 purpose as to smash his meal-dish and break several of 
 the potter's jars. The potter, rushing out, took him by 
 the throat, and turned him off; and so ended his specu- 
 lations. I smiled, my Liege," concluded the Vulture, 
 " at your precipitancy, thinking of that story." 
 
PEACE. 125 
 
 " Tell me, then, my Father, what should be done," 
 said the King. 
 
 " Tell me first, your Majesty, what took the fortress, 
 strength or stratagem ?" 
 
 " It was a device of yours," said the King. 
 
 " It is well," repHed the Minister, " and my counsel 
 now is to return before the rainy season, while we can 
 return ; and to make peace. We have won renown and 
 taken the enemy's stronghold ; let it suffice. I speak 
 as a faithful adviser ; and it is written — 
 
 " Whoso setting duty highest, speaks at need unwelcome things, 
 Disregarding fear and favour, such an one may succour kings." 
 
 Oh, my Liege ! war is uncertain ! Nay, it may ruin 
 victor and vanquished, — 
 
 " Sunda the strong, and giant Upasunda (""), 
 Contending, like the lightning and the thunder. 
 Slew each the other. Learn, the while you wonder." 
 
 " Tell me that," said the King of the Peacocks. 
 ' The Vulture related, — 
 
 " Long ago, my Liege, there were two Daityas named 
 Sunda and Upasunda, the which with penance and fasting 
 worshipped that God who wears the moon (1°-) for his 
 
126 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUXSELS. 
 
 forehead-jewel; desiring to wia Hs favour, and thereby 
 the lordship of the Three Worlds. At last the God, 
 propitiated by their devotion, spake thus unto them : — 
 
 ' I grant a boon unto ye, — choose what it shall be.' 
 
 "And they, who would have asked dominion, were 
 suddenly minded of Saraswati (^o^) — ^who reigns over 
 the hearts and thoughts of men — to seek a forbidden 
 thing. 
 
 'If,' said they, ' we have found favour, let the Divinity 
 give us his own cherished Parvati (}"*), the Queen of 
 Heaven ! ' 
 
 " Terribly incensed was the Grod, but his word had 
 passed, and the boon must be granted ; and Parvati the 
 Divine was delivered up to them. Then those two world- 
 breakers, sick at heart, sin-bHnded, and afire with the 
 glorious beauty of the Queen of Life — ^began to dispute, 
 saying one to another : ' Mine is she ! mine is she ! ' 
 At the last they called for an umpire, and the God him- 
 self appeared before them as a venerable Brahman. 
 
 * Master,' said they, ' tell us whose she is, for we both 
 won her by our might.' 
 
 " Then spake that Brahman : — 
 
 " Brahmans for their lore ('°') have honour ; Kshattriyas for 
 their hravery ; 
 Vaisyas for their hard-earned treasure ; Sudras for humility." 
 
PEACE. 127 
 
 Ye are Kshattriyas — and it is yours to fight; settle, 
 then, this question by the sword.' 
 
 " Thereupon they agreed that he spoke vrisely, and 
 drew and battled; and being of equal force, they fell 
 at the same moment by an exchange of blows. Good 
 my Lord," concluded the Minister, " peace is a better 
 thing than war." 
 
 " But why not say so before?" asked Jewel-plume. 
 
 " I said it at the first," replied the Minister. " I 
 knew King SUver-sides for a just King, upon whom it 
 was ill to wage battle. How say the Scriptures? — 
 
 " Seven foemen of all foemen, very hard to vanquish be : 
 The Truth-teller, the Just-dweUer, and the man from passion 
 
 free, 
 Subtle, self-sustained, and counting frequent well- won victories, 
 And the man of many kinsmen — ^keep the peace with such as 
 
 these." 
 
 The Swan-Hng has firiends and kinsmen, my Liege : — 
 
 " And the man with many kinsmen answers with them all 
 attacks ; 
 As the bambu, in the bambus safely sheltered, scorns the axe." 
 
 " My counsel then is that peace be concluded with 
 him," said the Vulture. 
 
 " All this King Silver-sides and his Minister the 
 Goose heard attentively from the Crane. 
 
128 « THE BOOK OF GOOD COTJNSELS. 
 
 ' Go again ! ' said the Goose to Long-bill, ' and bring 
 us news of how the Vulture's advice is received.' 
 
 ' Minister ! ' began the King, upon the departure of 
 the Crane, ' tell me as to this peace, who are they with 
 whom it should not be concluded?' 
 
 ' They be twenty (^'^), namely ' 
 
 ' Tari-y not to name them,' said the King; * and what 
 be the qualities of a good ally?' 
 
 * Such should be learned in Peace and War,' replied 
 the Goose, * in marching and pitching, and seasonably 
 placing an army in the field; for it is said, — 
 
 " He i^ho sets his battle wisely, conquers the unwary foe; 
 As the Owl, awaiting night-time, slew the overweening Crow." 
 
 Counsel, my Liege, is quintuple, — Commencing, pro- 
 viding, dividing, repelling, and completing.' 
 
 ' Good ! ' said the King. 
 
 ' Power is triple,' continued the Goose, ' being of 
 Kings, of counsels, and of constant effort.' 
 
 ' It is so ! ' said the King. 
 
 ' And expedients, my Liege,' continued the Goose, 
 * are quadruple, and consist of conciliation, of gifts, 
 of strife-stirring, and of force of arms; for thus it is 
 written, — 
 
 " Whoso hath the gift of giving wisely, equitably, well; 
 Whoso, learning aU men's secrets, unto none his o^Tn will tell: 
 
PEACE. 129 
 
 Whoso, ever cold and courtly, utters nothiog that offends, 
 Such an one may rule his fellows unto Earth's extremest ends." 
 
 ' Then King Jewel-plume would be a good ally,' 
 observed the Swan-king. 
 
 ' Doubtless ! ' said the Goose, ' but elated with Tictory, 
 he will hardly listen to the Vulture's counsel; we must 
 mate him do it.' 
 
 * How?' asked the King. 
 
 ' We will cause our dependant the King of Ceylon, 
 Strong-biU the Stork, to raise an insurrection in Jambu- 
 dwipa.' 
 
 ' It is well conceived,' said the King. And forthwith 
 a Crane, named Pied-body, was dismissed with a secret 
 message to that Rajah. 
 
 "In course of time the first Crane, who had been 
 sent as a spy, came back, and made his report. He 
 related that the Vulture had advised his Sovereign to 
 summon Night-cloud, the Crow, and learn from him 
 regarding Kiag Silver-sides' intentions. Night-cloud 
 attended accordingly. 
 
 ' Crow ! ' asked King Jewel-plume, ' what sort of a 
 Monarch is the Eajah Silver-sides ? ' 
 
 ' Truthful, may it please you,' rephed the Crow; 
 * and therewithal noble as Yudisthira(''"^) himself.' 
 
 * And his Minister, the Goose?' 
 
 9 
 
130 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 ' Is a llinister unrivalled, my Liege,' said the Crow- 
 
 Mng. 
 
 ' But how then didst thou so easily deceive them ? ' 
 ' Ah ! your Majesty,' said the Crow, ' there was little 
 
 credit in that. Is it not said? — 
 
 " Cheating them that truly trust you, 'tis a clumsy villany ! 
 Any knave may slay the child who climbs and slumbers on Jiis 
 knee." 
 
 Besides, the Minister detected me immediately. It was 
 the King whose inaate goodness forbade him to suspect 
 evil in another : — 
 
 " Believe a knave, thyself scorning a lie, 
 And rue it, like the Brahman, by-and-by." 
 
 ' What Brahman was that?' asked the King. I^ight- 
 cloud replied: — 
 
 SJk ^tflrg fl| i\u Iraltman aiut iltc ©oat. 
 
 ' A Brahman that lived in the forest of Gautama, your 
 Majesty. He had purveyed a goat to make pooja i^'^), 
 and was returning home with it on his shoulder when 
 he was descried by three knaves. " If we could but 
 obtain that goat," said they, " it would be a rare trick;" 
 and they ran on, and seated themselves at the foot of 
 
PEACE. 131 
 
 three different trees upon the Brahman's road. Pre- 
 sently he came up with the first of them, who addressed 
 him thus : — " Master ! why do you carry that dog on 
 your shoulder?" "Dog!" said the Brahman, " it is a 
 goat for sacrifice ! " With that he went on a coss Q-°^), 
 and came to the second knave; who called out — " What 
 doest thou with that dog, Master?" The. Brahman laid 
 his goat upon the ground, looked it all over, took it 
 up again upon his back, and walked on with ids mind 
 in a whirl; for — 
 
 " The good think evil slowly, and they pay 
 A price for faith — as witness ' Crop-ear ' may." 
 
 • Who was Crop-ear?' asked the King of the Peacocks. 
 
 i^hc f f0iig of iht ^nmtl, ih lion, nn&'his djuuii 
 
 * A Camel, jnay it please you,' replied Night-cloud, 
 ' who strayed away firom a kafila {^^°), and wandered into 
 the forest. A Lion, named " Fierce-fangs," lived in that 
 forest; and his three courtiers, a Tiger, a Jackal, and a 
 Crow, met the Camel, and conducted him to their King. 
 His account of himself was satisfactory, and the Lion 
 took him into his service under the name of Crop-ear. 
 Now it happened that the rainy season was very severe, 
 
 9—2 
 
132 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 and the Lion became indisposed, so that there was 
 much difficulty in obtaining food for the Court. The 
 courtiers resolved accordingly to prevail on the Lion 
 to kill the Camel; " for what interest have we," they 
 said, " in this Browser of thistles?" 
 
 " What, indeed!" observed the Tiger; " but will the 
 Eajah kill him after his promise of protection, think 
 you?" 
 
 " Being famished he will," said the Crow. " Know 
 you not? — 
 
 " Hunger hears not, cares not, spares not ; no boon of the 
 starving beg ; 
 When the snake is pinched with craving, verily she eats her 
 
 Accordingly they repaired to the Lion. 
 
 " Hast brought me food, feUow?" growled the Eajah. 
 
 " None, may it please you," said the Crow. 
 
 " Must we starve, then?" asked his Majesty. 
 
 " Not unless you reject the food before you. Sire," 
 rejoined the Crow. 
 
 "Before me! how mean you?" 
 
 *' I mean," replied the Crow (and he whispered it 
 in the Lion's ear), " Crop-ear, the Camel!" 
 
 "Now!" said the Lion, and he touched the ground, 
 and afterwards both ears, as he spoke, " I have given 
 
PEACE. 133 
 
 him my pledge for his safety, and how should I slay 
 him?" 
 
 " Nay, Sire! I said not slay," rephed the Crow; " it 
 may he that he will offer himself for food. To that 
 your Majesty would not object?" 
 
 " I am parlous hungry," muttered the Lion. 
 
 ' Then the Crow went to find the Camel, and, bring- 
 ing aU together before the King under some pretence 
 or other, he thus addressed him: — 
 
 " Sire! our pains are come to nothing: we can get 
 no food, and we behold our Lord falling away, 
 
 " Of the Tree of SUte the root 
 Kings are — feed what brings the fruit." 
 
 Take me, therefore, your Majesty, and break your fast 
 upon me." 
 
 " Good Crow," said the Lion, " I had Hever die than 
 do so." 
 
 " Will your Majesty deign to make a repast upon 
 me ? " asked the Jackal. 
 
 " On no account!" replied the Lion. 
 
 " Condescend, my Lord," said the Tiger, " to appease 
 your hunger with my poor flesh." 
 
 " Lnpossible ! " responded the Lion. 
 
 ' Thereupon Crop-ear, not to be behind in what seemed 
 safe, made offer of his own carcase, which was accepted 
 
13i THE BOOK OF GOOD COUifSELS. 
 
 before he had finished; the Tiger instantly tearing his 
 flank open, and all the rest at once devouiiag him. 
 
 ' The Brahman,' continued Night-cloud, ' suspected 
 nothing more than did the Camel; and when the third 
 knave had broken his jest upon him for bearing a dog, 
 he thi-ew it down, washed himself clean of the con- 
 tamination, and went home; while the knaves secured 
 and cooked his goat.' 
 
 ' But, Night-cloud,' asked the Eajah, ' how couldst 
 thou abide so long among enemies, and conciliate 
 them?' 
 
 ' It is easy to play the com-tier for a purpose,' said 
 Night-cloud, — 
 
 " Ck)urtesy may cover malice ; on their heads the woodmen bring. 
 Meaning all the while to hum them, logs and faggots — oh, my 
 
 King! 
 And the strong and suhtle river, rippling at the cedar's foot, 
 While it seems to lave and kiss it, undermines the hanging 
 
 root." 
 
 Indeed, it has been said, — 
 
 " A wise man for an object's sake. 
 His foe upon his back iviU take, 
 As with the Frogs once did the Snake." 
 
 'How was that?' asked the Peacock-King. The 
 Crow related : — 
 
PEACE. 135 
 
 ghe ^ioY^ of the 4Pfls and the ®Ut ^cr^cnt. 
 
 ' In a deserted garden tliere once lived a Serpent, 
 " Slow-coil" byname; who had reached an age when he 
 was no longer able to obtain his own food. Lying Hst- 
 lessly by the edge of a pond, he was descried by a 
 certain Frog, and interrogated, — 
 
 "Have you ^ven up caring for food. Serpent ?" 
 
 " Leave me, kindly Sir," replied the subtle reptile ; 
 " the griefs of a miserable wretch hke me cannot 
 interest your lofty mind." 
 
 " Let me at least hear them," said the Prog, some- 
 what flattered. 
 
 " You must know, then, gracious Sir," began the 
 Serpent,. " that it is now twenty years since here, in 
 Brahmapoora, I bit the son of Kaundinya, a holy Brah- 
 man ; of which cruel bite he died. Seeing his boy 
 dead, Kaundinya abandoned himself to despair, and 
 grovelled in his distress upon the ground. Thereat came 
 all his kinsmen, citizens of Bramahpoora, and sat down 
 with him, as the manner is, — 
 
 " He who shares his brother's portion, be he beggar, be he lord, 
 Comes as truly, comes as duly, to the battle as the board ; 
 Stands before the King to succour, foUows to the pile to sigh ; 
 He is friend and he is kinsman — less would make the name a he." 
 
136 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 Then spoke a twice-passed Brahman ("^), Kapila by 
 name, ' O Kaundinya ! thou dost forget thyself to lament 
 thus. Hear what is written — 
 
 " Weep not ! Life the hired nurse is, holding us a little space ; 
 Death, the mother who doth take us hack into our proper 
 place." 
 
 " Gone, with all their gauds and glories: gone, like peasants, are 
 the Kings, 
 Whereunto the world is witness, whereof all her record rings.'' 
 
 What, indeed, my friend, is this mortal frame, that we 
 should set store by it? — 
 
 " For the body, daily wasting, is not seen to waste away. 
 Until wasted, as in water set a jar of unbaked clay." 
 
 " And day after day man goeth near and nearer to his fate, 
 As step after step the victim thither where its slayers wait." 
 
 Friends and kinsmen — they must all be surrendered ! 
 Is it not said — 
 
 " Like as a plank of drift-wood 
 
 Tossed on the watery main. 
 Another plank encountered. 
 
 Meets, — touches, — ^parts again ; 
 So tossed, and drifting ever, 
 
 On life's unresting sea, 
 Men meet, and greet, and sever. 
 
 Parting eternally." 
 
 Thou knowest these things, let thy wisdom chide thy 
 sorrow, saying — 
 
PEACE. 137 
 
 " Halt, traveller ! rest i' the shade : then tip and leave it ! 
 Stay, Soul ! take fill of love ; nor losing, grieve it ! " 
 
 But in sooth a wise man would 'better avoid love ; for — 
 
 " Each beloved object bom 
 Sets within the heart a thorn, 
 Bleeding, when they be nptorn." 
 
 And it is well asked — 
 
 " When thine own house, this rotting frame, doth wither, 
 Thinking another's lasting — ^goest thou thither ? " 
 
 What will be, will be ; and who knows not — 
 
 " Meeting makes a parting sure, 
 Life is nothing but death's door." 
 
 For truly — 
 
 " As the downward-running rivers never turn and never stay, 
 So the days and nights stream deathward, bearing human lives 
 away." 
 
 And though it be objected that — 
 
 " Bethinking him of darkness grim, and death's unshmmed pain, 
 A man strong-souled relaxes hold, like leather soaked in rain.'' 
 
 Yet is this none the less assured, that — 
 
 " From the day, the hour, the minute, 
 Each life quickens in the womb ; 
 Thence its march, no falter in it. 
 Goes straight forward to the tomb." 
 
 Form, good friend, a true idea of mundane matters ; 
 
138 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 and bethink thee, that regret is. after all but an illusion, 
 an ignorance — 
 
 " An 'twere not so, would sorrow cease with years ? 
 Wisdom sees right what want of knowledge fears." 
 
 " Kaundinya listened to all this with the air of a 
 dreamer. Then rising up he said, ' Enough ! the house 
 is hell to me — I will betake me to the forest.' 
 
 ' Will that stead you ? ' asked Kapila ; ' nay — 
 
 " Seek not the wild, sad heart ! thy passions haunt it ; 
 Play hermit in thine house with heart undaunted ; 
 A governed heart, thinking no thought but good. 
 Makes crowded houses holy soUtude." 
 
 To be master of one's self — to eat only to prolong life — 
 to. yield to love no more than may suffice to perpetuate a 
 family — and never to speak but in the cause of truth, 
 this,' said Kapila, ' is armour against grief. What 
 wouldst thou with a hermit's life — prayer and purifi- 
 cation from sorrow and sin in holy streams?. Hear 
 this!— 
 
 " Away with those that preach to us the washing off of sin — 
 Thine own self is the stream for thee to make ablutions in: 
 In self-restraint it rises pure — flows clear in tide of truth, 
 By widening banks of wisdom, in waves of peace and ruth. 
 Bathe there, thou son of Pandu! ("^) with reverence and rite. 
 For never yet was water wet could wash the spirit white." 
 
PEACE. 139 
 
 Eesign thyself to loss. Pain exists absolutely. Ease, 
 what is it but a minute's alleviation ? ' 
 
 ' It is nothing else,' said Kaundinya : ' I wiU resign 
 myself!' Thereupon," the Serpent continued, "he 
 cursed me (i") with the curse that I should be a 
 carrier of frogs, and so retired — and here remaia I to do 
 according to the Brahman's malediction." 
 
 ' The Frog, hearing aU this, went and reported it to 
 Web-foot the Frog-King, who shortly came himself for 
 an excursion on the Serpent. He was carried delight- 
 fully, and constantly employed the conveyance. But 
 one day observing the Serpent to be sluggish, he asked 
 the reason. 
 
 " May it please you," explained the Serpent, " your 
 slave has nothing to eat." 
 
 " Eat a few of my frogs," said the King. " I give 
 you leave." 
 
 " I thank your Majesty!" answered the Serpent, and 
 forthwith he began to eat the frogs, untU the pond 
 becoming clear, he finished with their monarch himself. 
 ' I also,' said Night-cloud, ' stooped to conquer, but 
 King Silver-sides is a good King, and I would your 
 Majesty were at peace with him.' 
 
 ' Peace ! ' cried King Jewel-plume, ' shall I make 
 peace with my vassal ! I have vanquished him — let him 
 serve me ! ' 
 
140 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 " At this moment the Parrot came in. ' Sire ! ' said 
 lie, breathlessly, ' the Stork Strong-bill, Eajah of Ceylon, 
 has raised the standard of revolt in Jambu-dwipa, and 
 claims the country.' 
 
 ' What ! what ! ' cried the King in a fury. 
 
 ' Excellent good, Goose ! ' muttered the Minister. 
 ' This is thy work!' 
 
 ' Bid him but await me ! ' exclaimed the I^ng, ' and I 
 will tear him up like a tree ! ' 
 
 ' Ah, Sire,' said the Minister — 
 
 " Thunder for nothing, like December's cloud, 
 Passes unmarked : strike hard, but speak not loud." 
 
 We cannot march without making peace first ; our rear 
 will be attacked.' 
 
 ' Must it be so?' asked the King. 
 
 ' My Liege, it must,' replied the Vultm-e. 
 
 ' Make a peace then,' said the King, ' and make an 
 end.' 
 
 ' It is well,' observed the Minister, and set out for the 
 Court of the King Silver-sides. While he was yet 
 comiQg, the Crane announced his approach. 
 
 'Ah!' said the Swan-King, 'this wiU be another 
 designing spy from the enemy.' 
 
 ' Misdoubt him not!' answered the Goose, smiling, 
 ' it is the Vultm-e Far-sight, a spirit beyond suspicion. 
 
PEACE. 141 
 
 Would youi- Majesty be as the Swan that took the stars 
 reflected in the pool for lily-buds, and being deceived, 
 would eat no lily-shoots by day, thinking them stars?' 
 
 ' Not so ! but treachery breeds mistrust,' replied the 
 Kajah ; is it not written — 
 
 " Minds deceived by evil natures, from the good their faith Tvith- 
 hold; 
 When hot conjee once has burned them, children blow upon the 
 cold." 
 
 ' It is so written, my Liege,' said the Minister. ' But 
 this one may be trusted. Let him be received with 
 compliments and a gift.' 
 
 " Accordingly the Vulture was conducted, with the 
 most profound respect, from the fort to the King's 
 audience-haU, where a throne was placed for him. 
 
 ' Minister,' said the Goose, ' consider us and ours at 
 thy disposal.' 
 
 ' So consider us,' assented the Swan-King. 
 
 ' I thank you,' said Far-sight; ' but — 
 
 " With a gift the miser meet ; 
 Proud men by obeisance greet ; 
 Women's silly fancies soothe ; 
 Give wise men their due — the truth." 
 
 ' I am come to conclude a peace, not to claim your 
 kingdom. By what mode shall we conclude it ? ' 
 
142 THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. 
 
 ' How many modes be there?' asked King Silver- 
 sides. 
 
 ' Sixteen,' replied the Vulture. 
 
 'Are the alliances numbered therein?' asked the 
 King. 
 
 ' No ! these be four,' answered the Vulture, ' namely 
 — of mutual help — of friendship — of blood — and of 
 sacrifice.' 
 
 ' You are a great diplomatist ! ' said the King. 
 ' Advise us which to choose] ' 
 
 ' There is no Peace like the Grolden " Sangata," which 
 is made between good men, based on fiiendly feeling, and 
 preceded by the Oath of Truth,' replied the Vulture. 
 
 ' Let us make that Peace ! ' said the Goose. Far- 
 sight accordingly, viith fresh presents of robes and 
 jewels, accompanied the Goose to the camp of the 
 Peacock-King. The Kajah, Jewel-plume, gave the 
 Goose a gracious audience, accepted his terms of Peace, 
 and sent him back to the Swan-King, loaded with gifts 
 and kind speeches. The revolt in Jambu-dwipa was 
 suppressed, and the Peacock-King yetired to his own 
 kingdom. 
 
 " And now," said Vishnu-Sarman, " I have told your 
 Eoyal Highnesses aU. Is there anything remaining to 
 be told ? " 
 
PEACE. 143 
 
 " Eeverend Sir! " replied the Princes, " there is 
 nothing. Thanks to you, we have heard and compre- 
 hended the perfect cycle of kingly duty, and are con- 
 tent." 
 
 " There remains but this, then," said their Pre- 
 ceptor : 
 
 " Peace and Plenty, all fair things, 
 
 Grace the realm where ye reign Kings ; 
 
 Grief and loss come not anigh you, 
 
 Glory guide and magnify you ; 
 
 Wisdom keep your statesmen stUl 
 
 Clinging fast, in good or HI, 
 
 Clinging, like a bride new-wed. 
 
 Unto lips, and breast, and head : 
 And day by day, that these feir things befall, 
 The Lady Lukshmi give her grace to all." 
 
 THE END. 
 
]\^OTES. 
 
 10 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Honour to GunesTi. — Guiiesh, or Gunputtee, is the God of 
 Prudence, whom the Hindoos invoke at the outset of all imder- 
 takiags. His image, having four hands, and the head of a female 
 elephant with one tusk, surmounts the portal of a Hindoo residence, 
 a&the guardian of the household. 
 
 (2.) 
 
 A dty named Patalipvtra. — Now Patna, near the confluence of 
 the Soane and Ganges. 
 
 (3.) 
 
 The sabred writings. — The Vedas, or holy hook of India. They 
 are four in number, and are called the Rig- Veda, Yajur-Veda, 
 Sama-Veda, and Atharva-Veda. Hymns and metrical addresses 
 to. the elemental gods occupy them mainly. 
 
 (40 
 
 Childless art thou f 
 
 Less thy misery than his is, who is father to a fool. 
 
 The force of this comparison is only perceived by recollecting 
 the extreme anxiety of the Hindoo to obtain, and leave behind 
 
 10—2 
 
148 NOTES. 
 
 him, male offspring. The Sanskrit -woTd. piUra (son) is declared to 
 he a contraction from puilra, which means a deliverer from the 
 heUput; and the simple performance of thefimeral " shraddh" (a 
 libation by a son) is held sufficient to procure repose for the spirit 
 of his departed father. The Hindoo proverb says, " Whoso be- 
 getteth a son, planteth a tree, and diggeth a well ; that man shall 
 rest in Heaven." 
 
 (5.) 
 
 Sesasum. — The " tUla " seed ; which, together with the cocoa- 
 nut, supplies Hindostan with oil. 
 
 (6.) 
 Pundits. — ^Learned men. 
 
 (7-) 
 
 The angel of the planet Jupiter. — Vrihaspati, the Instructor of 
 the gods. Like the rest of the Hindoo divinities, he casts no 
 shadow in moving, his eternally watchful eyes never even wink 
 with fetigue, and the crown of flowers on his head blooms in per- 
 petual beauty aad freshness. 
 
 (8.) 
 The silk-cotton tree. — Sans. " Shalmali." 
 
 (9.) 
 
 jHis radiance the moon. — The moon (Chandra) is a masculine 
 deity in Hindoo mythology. The white lotus opens its blossoms 
 at night only, hence his descriptive epithet. 
 
 (10.) 
 
 A crow. — The Indian crow is everywhere seen and heard in 
 India. Its plumage is black, with a duU grey hood extending 
 over the head and neck. 
 
NOTES. 149 
 
 (11.) 
 
 Ood of Death. — Tama, called here Kritanta, or the "End- 
 bringer." He is God of Justice as well as of Death, and sits in 
 judgment upon disemhodied souls in his infernal city of Yama- 
 poora. Thence he dismisses them upwards to Swerga, downwards 
 to Naraka, or back again to earth in the form of some animal. 
 
 (12.) 
 
 Bangle. — The bracelet, in one solid piece, of gold, silver, brass, 
 glass, or earthenware, worn by aU Indian women. 
 
 (13.) 
 
 An old tiger. — ^It is true to nature that an " old tiger" should 
 be the villain of this episode, and devour the traveller ; for it is 
 only when the tiger has lost his teeth and claws by age, and with 
 them his power of securing antelopes, cattle, &c., that he becomes a 
 professed man-stealer. The popular notion was that the hide of a 
 " man-killer " became worn and mangy as a pimishment for attack- 
 ing man, his lord ; but it is not until his hide thus assvunes the aspect 
 of old age that he has recourse to such easy but illicit food. 
 Livingstone, in his African travels, first draws attention to this. 
 
 (14.) 
 
 Kusa grass. — Used in many reUgious observances by the 
 Hindoos. (Poa cynosuroides.) 
 
 (15.) 
 
 Cows, Brahmans, and men. — The tiger justifies his self-con- 
 demnation by confessing to the greatest moral guUt possible, the 
 slaughter of cows — a sin all but inexpiable. 
 
 (16.) 
 
 Son of Kunti. — Kunti was wife of Pandu, and mother of the 
 Pandava princes of the Mahahharata. 
 
150 NOTES. 
 
 (17.) 
 
 Neither give, ^c. — ^Here, and elsewhere, the intelligent reader 
 ■wiU remark a curious similarity hetween these ancient Hindoo 
 proverbs and those of Solomon. 
 
 (18.) 
 
 Vanish in the dragon's Jaw. — Kahoo, an evil spirit, with the tail 
 of a dragon, was held to be the cause of eclipses, by swallowing 
 occasionally the moon and sun. ^The legend had this origia. At 
 the time when the gods were drinking the nectar, churned firom 
 the ocean by the direction of Vishnu, Bahoo insinuated himself 
 among them, and began to drink. The sun and moon, as guardians 
 for the gods, observed the intm^on and revealed it. Vishnu at 
 once cut off the head of the venturous devil, but as the " amrit " 
 drink had rendered him immortal the head and tail retained their 
 separate life, and were placed in the stellar sky. Eahoo, there- 
 fore, still mindful of the injury done him by the sun's interference, 
 loses no opportunity of enclosing his anraent enemy in his jaws. 
 
 (19.) 
 
 Can a golden deer, ^c. — An allusion to an episode in the great 
 poem of the Kamayana. Manicha takes the form of a golden 
 deer, in pursuing "\Thich Rama is led away insensibly from his 
 abode, and Ravana comes as a beggar and carries off Sita in his 
 absence. 
 
 (20.) 
 The three wide worlds. — Heaven, earth, and the lower regions. 
 
 (21.) 
 
 The king of the mice. — The mouse, as vehicle of Gunesh, is an 
 important animal in Hiadoo legend. 
 
NOTES. 151 
 
 (22.) 
 
 Sickness, anguish, bonds, and woe. 
 Spring from wrongs wrought long ago. 
 
 By this theory of a series of existences continued until the 
 balance is just, and the soul has purified itselfj the Hindoo 
 accounts for the origin of eyil. Every fault must have its 
 expiation, and every higher faculty its development; pain and 
 misery being signs of and ordeals in the trial; v^hich is to end in 
 the happy re-absorption of the emancipated spirit. 
 
 (23.) 
 
 Champah-grove. — ^The champak is a bushy deciduous tree, bear- 
 ing a profusion of -white star-like blossoms with golden centre, 
 and of the most pleasing perfume. 
 
 (24.) 
 
 Tig-tree (Sans. "Tarkti"). — A large handsome tree, -with leaves 
 curiously -waved. 
 
 (25.) 
 
 The moon-penance. — A religious observance, inculcated by 
 Manu. The devotee commences the penance at the fuU moon 
 with an allowance of fifteen mouthfuls for his food, diminishing 
 this by one mouthful each day, tUl on the fifteenth it is reduced to 
 one. As the new moon then increases, his allowance also ascends 
 to its original proportion. 
 
 (26.) 
 
 Brahmacharya. — A votary of the "Vedas, a name technically 
 applied to young Brahmans after their investitvire -with the sacred 
 cord, and generally to pundits and Vedic professors. 
 
 (27.) 
 
 Agni is the twice-born's master. — Agni, the deity of Fire, under 
 his manifestations of light, the sun, &c., occupies a large portion 
 
152 NOTES. 
 
 of the Vedic liturgy. The twice-born is the Brahman, whose 
 second birth is dated from his investiture with the " sacred 
 thread." 
 
 (28.) 
 
 Krishna. — The god Vishnoo under his most celebrated and 
 popular form. He is [represented as of a handsome and graceful 
 person, with the dark blue complexion which the name implies. 
 
 (29.) 
 
 Unto Swerga, Sfc. — ^Heaven, the paradise of Indra, and the 
 happy abode of the souls of the just and of the gods. 
 
 (30.) 
 
 And the castor-oiVs a tree, where no tree else its shade affords. 
 
 The castor plant, although not altogether a shrub, seldom 
 assumes the proportions and dignity of a tree. It either grows 
 thick as a bush, or shoots up to twelve or sixteen feet, like a 
 sapUng. 
 
 (31.) 
 
 Oil of sandal-wood. — ^An extract from the well-known fragrant 
 tree of India. 
 
 (32.) 
 
 The prince of aU the serpents. — ^V4suki, or Ananta, the chief 
 of the human-headed serpents, who people Patala, or the regions 
 under the earth. 
 
 (33.) 
 
 HarHs name and Hards. — The first is the god Vishnoo, the 
 second Shiva. 
 
NOTES. 153 
 
 (34.) 
 
 And to taste the salt of service. — Italian scholars mil recall the 
 sorroTrfiil lines of Dante, so nearly resembling these — 
 
 " Tu proverai siccome sa di sale 
 Lo pane altrui, e com 'e duro caUe 
 Lo scendere e 1' salir per Taltnii scale." 
 
 Dante, Paradiso, cant. 17. 
 
 (35.) 
 
 breathe he like a blacksmitlCs helloios. — This implement in India 
 is a sewn goat skin, inflated with one hand and noisily emptied by 
 the other. 
 
 (36.) 
 
 The last thunder. — AUuding to the " Pralaya," or termination of 
 one of the Kalpas of the world's existence. 
 
 (37.) 
 
 Resohed into the Jive elements. — The five constituent ingredients 
 of the body. A common periphrasis for death in Sanskrit 
 writings. 
 
 (38.) 
 
 LoMhmi. — The wife of Vishnoo, Goddess of beauty and abun- 
 dance. She sprang, like Aphrodite, fi-om the sea, when the gods 
 churned it with the mountain ilandara to obtain the " Amrit," or 
 nectar. 
 
 (39.) 
 
 New com. — The Hindoos are as fond, as the English learn to be- 
 come, of the green ear of the jowaree stalk parched and eaten hot 
 with butter and pepper. 
 
 (40.) 
 
 A deer named Dapple-hack. — Antelopes are common ia all parts 
 of India. The true deer, such as the sambur, is found ia the 
 forests only. 
 
154 NOTES. 
 
 (41.) 
 Tlie Kotl. — The black or Indian cuckoo. 
 
 (42.) 
 
 The god of the five shafts. — " Kama," the Indian Cupid. His 
 bow is made of floivers, the string is a row of bees, and he wounds 
 with five arrows, typifying the fi%-e senses. He is known, also, as 
 Manmaiha, the heart-shaker ; Manasija, the heart-begotten ; and 
 Ananga, the bodiless. The second title refers to his reputed 
 origin from the heart of Brahma, though the god is also repre- 
 sented as the son of Lukshmi and Vishnoo. He is called the 
 Bodiless, from a misadventure -with Shiva, whom he dared to aim 
 at, but the indignant deity reduced the archer to cinders with one 
 glance of his central eye. He is painted as a handsome boy, riding 
 on a parrot, and surrounded by maidens, who bear his banner with 
 the fish Makara. 
 
 (43.) 
 
 The forest of Brahma. — A wood where the Vedas are read and 
 expounded. A Hindoo academe. 
 
 (44.) 
 
 The reverential prostration of the eiglit members. — ^The saluta- 
 tions of India are Spanish in their variety and exactness. The 
 "salaam" is universal; but the native greets his neighbour with the 
 more cordial "ram-ram," and receives it with gratification from the 
 Sahib. The better hand must always be employed, and is raised 
 pressed to the palm of the other to perform a " namuskar," the 
 salutation of a Brahman. The prostration alluded to in the text 
 is performed by lowering at once to the ground the hands, breast, 
 forehead, eyes, two knees, and two feet. 
 
 (45.) 
 
 The momevi of fortunate conjunction. — The astrologer is an im- 
 portant personage in every Hindoo town or village to decide upon 
 
NOTES. 155 
 
 lucky or unlucky days. The rules for his decision are freely given 
 by Manu. " The day of new moon," he says, " destroys the 
 spiritual teacher (or gooroo), the fourteenth is bad for the learner, 
 and nothing in the Vedas read on the eighth day and the day of 
 fiill moon wiU be remembered." 
 
 (46.) 
 
 A vow to Gauri. — " The fair goddess," i. e. Parvati, wife of 
 Shiva. 
 
 (47.) 
 Se, vjhose forehead-jewel is ihe moon. — Shiva. 
 
 (48.) 
 
 The soorma. — (Unjun.) The antimony powder used viniversally 
 by Hindoo women to darken the Uds and lashes of the eye. It is 
 applied with a small stick rubbed upon the powder, and a little 
 consequently goes a long way. 
 
 (49.) 
 Chatty. — The large earthen pot employed to hold water. 
 
 (50.) 
 
 Seeing how the ant-hill grows. — ^In the great plains of India the 
 large ant-hUls form a marked feature. They are thrown up with 
 great rapidity, and have been seen to rise by a public road to .the 
 height of three feet or more in a night or two. 
 
 (51.) 
 
 The chattra.— -The white umbrella borne above the heads of 
 Indian rajahs, and especially appropriated to royalty, Jike the 
 Chowri or Tak-tail. 
 
 (52.) 
 
 ITie retreat of Dhurmma. — ^Personified virtue, under the form 
 of the bull of Shiva, and with this title. 
 
156 NOTES. 
 
 (53.) 
 
 Kdyeth caste. — A writer; a man sprung from a Kshattriya 
 father and a Sudra mother. 
 
 (54.) 
 
 Washerman. — The labour of the laundry in India is always per- 
 formed on hard rocks by the river side, and principally by men 
 called " dhobies." 
 
 (55.) 
 
 Starve thy maw, Sj-c. — (Literally, " with the belly serve the 
 Eater of oblations" — AutdsJian), i. e. stint thyself to perform the 
 sacrifice. 
 
 (56.) 
 
 Vrihaspati the Grave. — ^Regent of the planet Jupiter, and In- 
 structor of the divinities. 
 
 (57.) 
 
 In the north. — There are no lions in India, excepting that called 
 " the maneless lion,'' occasionally met with in Guzerat; but they 
 abound to the north-west. 
 
 (58.) 
 
 TJie King of Chedi. — Shishupala; he took also the forms of 
 Havana and of Hiranya Kasipu, to oppose Krishna, who killed 
 him. 
 
 (59.) 
 
 Gunpattee. — Gunesh ; the deity of prudence. Bom from the 
 bathing- water of the Goddess Parvati. 
 
 (60.) 
 
 A cowry. — The little sea-sheU used in India for small change. 
 About 6,000 go to the rupee. 
 
NOTES. 157 
 
 (61.) 
 
 The tree of Paradise. — A tree growing in Indra's Swerga, which 
 instantly produced whatever was desired. 
 
 (62.) 
 
 The form called Gundharva. — ^Manu, in his Book HI., gives the 
 form of eight different kinds of marriage. This is that without 
 ceremonies, and by mutual consent. The ordinary Hindoo rite is 
 very gracefiil, and resembles in some points the classic custom. 
 At any time after the " Moonj," or investiture with the sacred 
 thread, the Brahman boy is marriageable, and the girl must not be 
 ten years old. They meet at the bride's house, the laganpatrica 
 or " marriage horoscope " having been previously made out by the 
 astrologer. There they go through the suptupadi, walking toge- 
 ther three times roimd a fire, seven steps at each time ; then their 
 garments are tied together, and an offering is placed upon the 
 flames, completing the rite. The bride remains at her father's 
 house until the age of twelve or thirteen, when she is claimed by 
 her husband. 
 
 (63.) 
 
 Cut thy nose off. — The ordinary expedient of an incensed hus- 
 band in the East. 
 
 (64.) 
 
 Yama and the seven guardians. — These eight protecting deities 
 rank next below the Hindoo Trinity. They are : — 1. Indra, the 
 air; 2. Agni, the fire; 3. Chandra, the moon; 4. Surya, the sun. 
 5. Pavana, the wind. 6. Yama, the lord of justice and of the 
 lower worlds. 7. Varuna, God of the waters; and 8. Kuvera, 
 the master of wealth. 
 
 (65.) 
 
 Shaving the head of the barter's wife.— This indignity reduced 
 her to the appearance and the miserable status of a widow. 
 
158 NOTES. 
 
 (66.) 
 The three prerogatives of the throne. — Kegal authority derives 
 its rights from three sources with the Hindoo authors — mz. Power, 
 Prescription or continuance, and Wisdom. 
 
 (67.) 
 
 Watered them with nectar. — The Greek word nectar, and the 
 Sanskrit amrit, are alike ki their etj-mology — " the immortal." 
 Both were the food of the undying gods, and the Hindoo deities 
 thus obtained their ambrosia. The Daityas, like the Titans, had 
 waged war upon the divinities (the Suras), and these last betook 
 themselves to Vishnoo for protection. He bade them cast certain 
 medicinal herbs into the " sea of nulk ; " then taking Mount Man.- 
 dara for a chuming-stick, and the king of the serpents &r the 
 twisting-string, the god began to chum the ocean for nectar. The 
 Daityas themselves aided on promise of sharing in the strength- 
 restoring extract, and stood at the serpent's head while the Suras 
 worked at the taU. The great Vishnoo also took part in the 
 work as a tortoise, upon whose back the mountain whirled round 
 backwards and forwards. Out of the seething flood there came 
 up at the last a figure robed in white — Dhanwautari, the physician 
 of the gods — who bore in his hands the first cup-fiill of the amrit. 
 From the same ocean also rose the ever-lovely Lukshmi, — ^the mar- 
 vellous cow, from which all things that could be desired might be 
 milked, — and the halkUt, or poison which stained the neck of Shiva. 
 The nectar thus obtained bestowed new vigour on the wearied gods, 
 and was stored up in the moon, where the lunar rays ripen and 
 perfect it. 
 
 (68.) 
 Ovrud, the lord of the birds. — He is the vehicle and the 
 attendant of Vishnoo, and has a human face with the wings of a 
 bird. 
 
 (69.) 
 The god Narayen.—Ya.rwa&, god of the world of waters. This 
 Deity is regent of the west, and a lord of punishment, holding a 
 
NOTES. 159 
 
 noosed cord, wherewith to hind transgressors heneath the sea. His 
 vahma, a vehicle, is the great fish mukur. The present age Qtalpd) 
 of the world is called Viriha, or the hoar's, and was initiated hy 
 Karayen. " When that supreme lord," says the Vishnoo Pooran, 
 " woke and heheld the universe void, knowing that the earth lay 
 hid within the waters, he assumed the body of a wUd boar, and 
 plunging in them raised up the earth till it floated upon the waves." 
 The name Narayen, suggestive of the Greek Nereus, denotes Him 
 " xAios^ progress (ayana) is upon the face of the waters (narah)." 
 
 (70.) 
 The life to come. — Literally, " the other world" (ParaldK). 
 
 (71.) 
 
 The azure lotas. — The lotus resembles our water-lUy, but is 
 more varied in form and colour. There are white, red, blue, and 
 yellow varieties. 
 
 (72.) 
 
 Another hath the spoils. — There is a belief^ constantly occurring 
 La Hindoo writings, that the elephant's head contains precious 
 stones, resembling pearls. The remorseftd monarch alludes to 
 thi'i, and compares his conquest to the slaughter of an elephant, 
 which leaves guilt to the lion, and gives the pearls to some chance 
 hunter. 
 
 (73.) 
 
 " A Brahman that eats all things equally."- — This epithet, " sar- 
 wabhahsha," and the comparison, are very strong, and suffice to 
 qidet King Tawny-hide's conscience. A Brahman who ate flesh 
 would be like the unclean " Rdltshasas " or demons. 
 
 (74.) 
 
 Peacock and Swan. — The peacock is wild in most Indian jungles. 
 The swan (Sanscrit, hansa) is a species of flamingo of a white 
 
160 NOTES. 
 
 colour, ■with markings of a golden yellow. The voice and gait of 
 a beautiful woman are likened in the Hindoo poets to those of the 
 " Hansa." It is the vehicle of the god Brahma. 
 
 (75.) 
 
 The Vindliya mountains. — The chain between Hindustan and the 
 south country or Deccan. The name is said to imply that they 
 appear, from their loftiness, to stop the sun in his declining course. 
 
 (76.) 
 
 Jambu-dvnpa. — " The land of the rose-apple " — the central of 
 the seven continents, containing the regions knoivn to Hindoo 
 geographers. It may not be out of place to sketch in this note 
 the Hindoo's cosmogony. He reads in his Poorans that Priyavrata, 
 son of the Self-bom, grieving to see the earth but half illumined 
 at one time by the sun, drove roimd it seven times in his own 
 flaming chariot, the wheels of which formed seven ruts, which are 
 now the beds of the seven oceans. The continents thus divided 
 are also seven. Jambu-dwipa is the central one, with Moimt 
 Meru for its own centre, where " men are bom of the colour of 
 burnished gold, and the women resemble blue lotuses; where all 
 live as do the gods, and have the vital forces of 10,000 elephants." 
 
 Around Jamhii-dwipa runs -a sea of salt-water, and beyond it 
 lies PlxAsJia-dwipa. There the happy inhabitants know nothing 
 of sickness, and live 5,000 years. 
 
 Plakslia-dwipa is divided by a sea of sugar-cane juice from 
 SMlmali-dwipa. The castes of this continent are the tawny 
 the purple, the yellow, and the red, and in it " the vicinity of the 
 gods is very delightful to the soul." 
 
 A sea of wine intervenes between this land and Kusha-dwipa. 
 There no one dies; but the gods and gandharvas, the heavenly 
 minstrels, share in the pastimes of the fair and innocent persons 
 who dwell in the land. 
 
 Kvsha-divipa is separated from KmuncJia-dwipa by its sea of 
 ghee, or clarified butter. This last is twice as large as the first. 
 
NOTES. 161 
 
 and the inhabitants dwell among its mountains Tvith the immortal 
 gods, whom they regard without fear. 
 
 Outside Kraunclia-dwipa rolls the sea of curds and whey, wash- 
 ing also the shores of Saka-dwipa, a favoured land, where there is 
 no vice, nor envr, nor injustice. In the black mountains (Syama) 
 of this country the men are black, and they worship the God 
 Vishnoo, as the sim. 
 
 Kound the dark shores of Krauncha-dwlpa, " like an armlet of 
 ivory on a Brahmanee's wrist," flows the sea of milk. It divides 
 this continent from the last and farthest of the seven, the PusKkara- 
 dwipa. In the perfect joy of this distant sphere, " there is no 
 distinction of highest and lowest, of killer or slain, of truth or 
 &lsehood ; the people are of one form with the gods, and too high 
 for duty or observances. Food they consume, but it comes spon- 
 taneously to them upon desire, and delicately prepared. There is 
 no evil there, but endless good." 
 
 And (for the mind yet unsatiated with receding infinity) beyond 
 Pushkara is the sea of fresh water, equal to itself in breadth. 
 Passing that is the Golden Land, without inhabitants, and yet 
 beyond it lie the Loka loka mountains, dark, immovable, and 
 10,000 yojans (50,000 nailes) high and broad. Outside that dark- 
 ness is tjie shell of the mundane egg. 
 
 " Of which eggs," concludes the Poorana, " there be thousands, 
 and tens of thousands — yea, a hundred millions of millions!" 
 
 (77.) 
 
 Their hanging nests. — These birds seem to select the bushes over 
 the mouth of a well, or the slender twigs of a tree, as safe places 
 from the snakes. 
 
 (78.) 
 
 A frog in a well. — Having no more knowledge than the frog 
 has of light. 
 
 (79.) 
 
 Am J not Sasanhaf — From the Sanskrit — Saia, a hare. 
 
 11 
 
162 NOTES. 
 
 (80.) 
 
 Shwa reigns for ever Shiva, while the sea-waves stain his neck. 
 
 At the churning of the ■waters, along with the " amrita" and 
 the beautiful Lukshmi, came up also a deadly yenom (Kalkut), 
 &tal to mortals. To avert its evil influence the god Shiva drank 
 it up ; but it •was potent enough to stain his throat black or dark- 
 blue, whence his title of " NUkanta," the blue- throated. 
 
 (81.) 
 
 The wife of Ramchundra, i. e. Kama, who was absent in the chase 
 of a phantom deer of gold. 
 
 (82.) 
 Peepttl tree.— Or " Pimpal," the holy fig. 
 
 (83.) 
 
 A betel leaf. — The " pan-sooparee," a compound of betel-nut, 
 lime, and cloves, wrapped up in a leaf of the pepper- vine, and 
 chewed by all India. 
 
 (84.) 
 
 The faithful wife. — ^By such a death as that alluded to, she 
 earns the title of Sati, the " excellent." 
 
 (85.) 
 
 ITie paddy-bird. — The common Indian crane ; a graceM white 
 bird, to be seen everywhere, and always, in the interior of Hin- 
 dostan. 
 
 (86.) 
 ^^ « 
 
 Singhala-dwipa. — The " Land of the Lion " — Ceylon. 
 
 (87.) 
 
 He is sure to join in. — The ciy of one jackal at night raises a 
 chorus from all those within hearing. 
 
NOTES. 163 
 
 (88.) 
 Vachaspati. — Policy, "the Lord of Talk." fibf/ie, " Diplomacy." 
 
 (89.) 
 
 Ghauts. — A word applied to ranges of mountain, by which, as 
 by a staircase, the country rises into an elevated region. Also to 
 the step-like path leading over or through the mountains, and to 
 the flight of stairs at a river side landing-place. 
 
 (90.) 
 
 A rajpoot. — Here synonymous with " Kshattriya," a man of the 
 nUitary caste. 
 
 (91.) 
 
 The complimentary betel. — The " pan-sooparee " (see note 83), 
 neatly folded into a triangular form, and pierced through by a 
 clove, is handed round at the close of all occasions of ceremony. 
 Judged by its popularity (and not by, a first experiment upon it), 
 it deserves the encomium which King Silver-sides cannot repress. 
 
 (92.) 
 
 The dark half of the month. — ^The Hindoos divide their month 
 into two divisions of fifteen tithees (or days) each. " Shood," the 
 bright hal^ is occupied by the increase of the moon ; and " Vud," 
 the dark half, marks the moon's waning. The fourteenth night 
 of the dark half would be intensely dark. 
 
 (93.) 
 
 The fortune. — The " Lukshmi," the attendant genius. 
 
 (94.) 
 
 The thirty -two auspicious marks. — This superstition, preserved 
 to us in palmistry, is of common occurrence in the Hindoo writ- 
 
164 NOTES. 
 
 ings. In Book 19 of the Vana-parva (Mahdbharat), Vahuka 
 chooses his horses by the ten avartas, or marks of excellence. 
 " Never," says King Ritupama — 
 
 " Never shall we reach Vidarbha, drawn by steeds so slight and 
 small." 
 Vahuka rephes — 
 " Two on head, and one on forehead, marks of mettle here be all. 
 Two on chest, on this and that flank two and two, on crupper one. 
 These the steeds shall reach Vidarbha long before the day be 
 done." 
 
 (95.) 
 Thy Ouru. — The spiritual instructor of a young Brahman. 
 
 (96.) 
 
 With his shoulder-scratching horn. — Large branching horns 
 which reach backward and rub upon his shoulders. 
 
 (97.) 
 
 The Apsaras. — The houris of Indra's heaven. They also were 
 produced at the chiuming of the ocean, in raiment and ornaments 
 of celestial splendour. Their office is to receive into Paradise and 
 to solace there with the delights of love the souls of all who have 
 died fighting bravely. In the "Nala" of the Mahabharat 
 (Book 2) Indra the god is made to say — 
 
 " They, the just — the lion-hearted,— Lords, who, never yielding 
 
 place. 
 Saw the shaft's descending death-blow — saw, and took it on their 
 
 face! 
 Theirs this realm of endless joy is, as the Cow of Plenty mine; 
 Let them come — the Dead in battle — Lo ! I wait them — ^guests 
 
 divine." 
 
NOTES. 165 
 
 (98.) 
 
 Time not come, ^-c. — These composite titles may serve as in- 
 stances of conjoined Sanskrit words. One such in the Champu 
 of Trivikrama contains 118 letters. 
 
 (99.) 
 
 The Mongoose. — An animal of the weasel kind, very common 
 in India, and valued for its active animosity against all serpents. 
 
 (100.) 
 
 2'Ae Pot-breaker. — This episode is the undoubted origin of 
 " Alnaschar " in the Arahian Nights; and of a host of stories and 
 proverbs against the imprudence of " counting chickens before 
 they are hatched." 
 
 (101.) 
 
 Sunda the Strong, and Giant Upasunda. — Two of the Daityas, 
 the Hindoo Titans who fought against the Suras. 
 
 (102.) 
 
 That God who wears the Moon. — Shiva. 
 
 " On whose brow the Moon shines brave, 
 Like the foam on Gunga's wave." 
 
 (103.) 
 
 Saraswati. — The wife of Brahma, goddess of speech and elo- 
 quence — inventress of the Devanagari character and of the Sanskrit. 
 " Thou," says the Sage Viisistha, addressing her in the Mahahharat 
 (Salya Parva), " art nourishment, radiance, feme, perfection, in- 
 tellect, light. Thou art speech ; thou art Swdh4 ; this world is 
 thine, and thou, in four-fold form, art in all its creatures." 
 
166 NOTES. 
 
 (104.) 
 
 Parvati. — The wife of Sbira — another name for Durga, the 
 " Mountain Queen." She is the daughter of Himala, King of the i 
 Snowy Hills ; and her temple, as at Poona, stands generally on a 
 lofty spot. 
 
 (105.) 
 
 Srahmans for their lore, SfC. — Here is a mention of the fovir 
 castes, with their distinctive occupations. 
 
 (106.) 
 
 They be twenty. — I suppress in this place nineteen shlokes, or 
 stanzas, of the origmal, which enumerate rather tediously the -vices 
 or failings to he avoided in an ally. 
 
 (107.) 
 
 Yudisthira. — The hero of the Mahabkarat, who crowns the' 
 devotion of his Ufe by reftising to enter Heaven, imless his wife 
 and friends share in its feUcities with him. 
 
 Pooja. — Sacrifice. 
 
 Coss. — Two miles. 
 
 Kqfila. — ^A caravan. 
 
 (108.) 
 (109.) 
 (110.) 
 (111.) 
 
 A twice-passed Brahmam. — The yoimg Brahman, being invested 
 with the sacred thread, and having concluded his studies, becomes 
 of the second order, — a householder — " grihastha." 
 
NOTES. 167 
 
 (112.) 
 
 Thou son of Pandu. — ^Yudisthira, titular son of the Prince of 
 Delhi, ia the Mahabharata. 
 
 (113.) 
 
 He cursed me. — The power of a Brahman's curse is everjTrhere 
 illustrated in Hindoo writings. "Carry me to Viswamitra," 
 says Vasistha, " lest he curse thee, O chief of rivers ! " (Mahdb- 
 harata — Salya Paw). These sages transformed each other into 
 birds, by the force of mutual imprecation. Bliagvata — Pooran — 
 ix. 7, 6. But Vaswamitra was originally a Kshattriya, and be- 
 came a Brahman by his austerities only. Vasistha, a true Brahman, 
 resisted by a curse the celestial weapons raised against him. Saktri 
 also, his son, met the King Kalmashapada, and, refusing to yield 
 the path, was struck by him. The Brahman instantly cursed the 
 King to become a man-eater, and the &st victim of the imposed 
 propensity was the powerfiil but improvident Saktri himself 
 {Mahabharata, Adi Parva.) The ocean, originally fresh and pure, 
 •became salt by the power of a Brahmanic imprecation. 
 
 THE END. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 
 
 LITTLE GREEN ARBODR CM)DBT, OLD BAILET, E.C.