Part 28

“Oh,” said the man, “you guard the palace of the king, who must have paid a high price for you. I cannot afford to pay the amount, else I would willingly take you.”

“Ah!” said the Dog, “how place and position affect people!”

THE TIGER, THE FOX, AND THE HUNTERS

By Ramaswami Raju

A fox was once caught in a trap. A hungry Tiger saw him and said, “So you are here!”

“Only on your account,” said the Fox in a whisper.

“How so?” said the Tiger.

“Why, you were complaining you could not get men to eat, so I got into this net to-day, that you may have the men when they come to take me,” said the Fox, and gave a hint that if he would wait a while in a thicket close by he would point out the men to him.

“May I depend upon your word?” said the Tiger.

“Certainly,” said the Fox.

The Hunters came, and seeing the Fox in the net, said, “So you are here!”

“Only on your account,” said the Fox, in a whisper.

“How so?” said the men.

“Why, you were complaining you could not get at the Tiger that has been devouring your cattle; I got into this net to-day that you may have him. As I expected, he came to eat me up, and is in yonder thicket,” said the Fox, and gave a hint that if they would take him out of the trap he would point out the Tiger.

“May we depend upon your word?” said the men.

“Certainly,” said the Fox, while the men went with him in a circle to see that he did not escape.

Then the Fox said to the Tiger and the men, “Sir Tiger, here are the men; gentlemen, here is the Tiger.”

The men left the Fox and turned to the Tiger. The former beat a hasty retreat to the wood, saying, “I have kept my promise to both; now you may settle it between yourselves.”

The Tiger exclaimed, when it was too late, “Alas! what art for a double part!”

THE SEA, THE FOX, AND THE WOLF

By Ramaswami Raju

A fox that lived by the seashore once met a Wolf that had never seen the Sea. The Wolf said, “What is the Sea?”

“It is a great piece of water by my dwelling,” said the Fox.

“Is it under your control?” said the Wolf.

“Certainly,” said the Fox.

“Will you show me the Sea, then?” said the Wolf.

“With pleasure,” said the Fox. So the Fox led the Wolf to the Sea and said to the waves, “Now go back”—they went back! “Now come up”—and they came up! Then the Fox said to the waves, “My friend, the Wolf, has come to see you, so you will come up and go back till I bid you stop; and the Wolf saw with wonder the waves coming up and going back.

He said to the Fox, “May I go into the Sea?”