Hindu Literature | Page 4

"Good things come not out of bad things; wisely leave a longed-for ill.
Nectar being mixed with poison serves no purpose but to kill."
'But all gain is got by risk, so I will see into it at least;' then he called
out, 'Where 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 cub-hood, I know I
was very wicked. I killed 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 practise the
duty of almsgiving--and, as thou seest, I am strict at ablutions and alms.
Besides, I am old, and my nails and fangs are gone--so who would
mistrust 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 Kûnti--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.'
And those others--
'Look! the Moon, the silver roamer, from whose splendor darkness flies
With his starry cohorts marching, like a crowned 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 devouring him. "And
that," said Speckle-neck, "is why we counselled caution."
"Why, yes!" said a certain pigeon, with some presumption, "but you've
read the verse--
'Counsel 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 fruitful
mother is she of a countless spawn of sin.'
And again,
'Can a golden Deer have being? yet for such the Hero pined:-- When
the cloud of danger hovers, then its shadow dims the mind.'
Presently they were caught in the net. Thereat, 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 will be Slave or Mistress: follow her, she brings to woe; Lead
her, 'tis the way to Fortune. Choose the path that thou wilt go."
When King Speckle-neck heard their reproaches, he said, "No, no! it is
no fault of his.
'When the time of trouble cometh, friends may ofttimes 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 affrayed-- Proudly emulous of honor,
steadfastly 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[4]
is he; Happy mother she that bore him, she who nursed him on her
knee."
"Let us do this now directly," continued the King: "at 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 are fastened with a rope of grass-blades twined.'
"And it is written, you know,
'Let the household hold together, though the house be ne'er so small;
Strip the rice-husk from the rice-grain, and it groweth not at all.'
Having pondered this advice, the Pigeons adopted it; and flew away
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