Part 16 (2/2)
Said the Glow-worm with pride: ”_Wickedness yields to wisdom!_”
The Lion and the Gadfly
Once a Lion was sleeping in his den at the foot of a great mountain when a Gadfly that had been sipping the blood from his mouth bit him severely. The Lion started up with a roar, and catching the Fly in his huge paws, cried: ”Villain, you are at my mercy! How shall I punish your impudence?”
”Sire,” said the Fly, ”if you would pardon me now, and let me live, I shall be able to show ere long how grateful I am to you.”
”Indeed!” said the Lion; ”who ever heard of a Gadfly helping a Lion?
But still I admire your presence of mind and grant your life.”
Some time after, the Lion, having made great havoc on the cattle of a neighbouring village, was snoring away in his den after a heavy meal.
The village hunters approached with the object of surrounding him and putting an end to his depredations.
The Fly saw them, and hurrying into the den, bit the Lion. He started up with a roar as before, and cried: ”Villain, you will get no pardon this time!”
”Sire,” said the Fly, ”the village hunters are on their way to your den; you can't tarry a moment here without being surrounded and killed.”
”Saviour of my life!” cried the lion as he ran up the mountain.
”_There is nothing like forgiving, for it enables the humblest to help the highest_.”
The Sunling
In the good old days a Clown in the East, on a visit to a city kinsman, while at dinner pointed to a burning candle and asked what it was. The city man said, in jest, it was a Sunling, or one of the children of the sun.
The Clown thought that it was something rare; so he waited for an opportunity, and hid it in a chest of drawers close by. Soon the chest caught fire, then the curtains by its side, then the room, then the whole house.
After the flames had been put down, the city man and the Clown went into the burnt building to see what remained. The Clown turned over the embers of the chest of drawers. The city man asked what he was seeking for. The Clown said: ”It is in this chest that I hid the bright Sunling; I wish to know if he has survived the flames.”
”Alas,” said the city man, who now found out the cause of all the mischief, ”_Never jest with fools!_”
The Despot and the Wag
A Despot in the East wished to have a great name as a very munificent prince, so he gave large presents to every one of note that came to his court, but at the same time his officers had secret orders to waylay the recipients of his gifts and recover them.
In this manner many a man had been rewarded and plundered. Once a wag came to court, and amused every one by his drolleries. The King gave him a great many presents, including a horse. After taking leave of the King and his courtiers, the Wag bundled up the presents and put them over his shoulders, and mounting the horse, facing the tail, was going out. The King asked him why he acted in that manner.
”Sire,” said the Wag, ”simply to see if your officers were coming behind, that I may at once hand over the bundle to them and go about my business.”
The Despot was abashed, and stopped giving any more presents, saying: ”_Giving is but giving in vain, when we give to take again_.”
<script>