the fetters of deceit?' The Deer replied, 'Opposed to the divine decree, of what avail is shrewdness? and of what use is acuteness and sagacity, if it controvert the mandate of the Supreme Ruler? From the desert of deliberation to the resting-place of destiny, the way is endless; and from the plain of stratagem to the confines of fate, the distance is infinite. COUPLET. Proud of a hundred wiles I stood without, But knew not what, within, they were about.' The Mouse replied, "Thou speakest truly, COUPLET. Where fate sets up the tent of destiny, None can the assault by wise-laid plans defy.' He then occupied himself with severing the bonds of the Deer, and in the meantime the Tortoise having come up, made known his grief and dejection at the imprisonment of his friend. The Deer said, 'O kind friend! thy coming to this spot is yet more perilous than what has befallen me; for if the hunter should come and the Mouse have severed my bonds, I with a single step can save my life, and the Crow will fly away, and the Mouse will conceal itself in the recess of a hole. But thou hast neither the hand to fight nor the means of opposition, nor the front to resist nor the foot to fly. Why hast thou ventured thus gratuitously? and wherefore hast thou been so rash?' The Tortoise replied, 'Dear comrade? how was it possible for me not to come? and with what color could I delay or allow of hesitation? what pleasure has life which is passed in absence from friends? and how can existence be valued which is spent in separation from those we love. COUPLET. Lifeless I lived. Let this thee not surprise; Bereft of friends our life, uncounted, lies. And I am excusable for coming here, since the desire of beholding thy beauty drew me hither whether I would or not, and the wish of beholding thee deprived me of all patience; and with reference to this trifling distance and necessary journey which has presented itself, the companion of patience has set his foot in the road of annihilation.' COUPLET. Too sad without thee, God knows! my distress; The parting day and night of loneliness. And be thou not pensive, for this instant thou wilt obtain thy release, and these knots being loosed, thou wilt with unconcern hasten home; and on all accounts it is requisite for thee to offer due thanksgiving, and incumbent on thee to render thy grateful acknowledgments that thy body is unwounded and 1 Plainly, I could not bear not to take so trifling a journey.' thy life uninjured; else the remedy would have been beyond the reach of imagination, and the cure would have passed the bounds of possibility.' They were engaged in this conversation when the hunter appeared at a distance, and the Mouse finished dividing the meshes. The Deer leapt forth, the Crow flew away, the Mouse went down into a hole, but the Tortoise remained where it was. When the hunter came up and found the net which held the deer severed, he bit the finger of amazement with the tooth of reflection, and began to look to the left and right, saying, 'Ah! by whom has this deed been done and whose hand has effected this?' His eyes lighted on the Tortoise, and he said to himself, Although this contemptible piece of goods cannot soothe my sorrow for the escape of the Deer, and the rupture of the net, yet to return empty-handed is discreditable to the character of a hunter.' He then forthwith seized him and tossed him into his bag, and having tied him on his back, set off towards the city. As soon as the hunter had departed, the friends assembled, and discovered that the Tortoise had been taken by the hunter. Their hearts poured forth lamentations, and they raised their cries and complaints to the summit of the blue sky, and said, COUPLET. "The day our eyes thy beauty cease to view, Look where they will, tears will those eyes bedew. What pain can equal separation from friends? and what calamity can parallel the absence of our comrades. Whoever is excluded from beholding his companion, and is parted from communion with his rosy-cheeked [favorite], knows that the wanderers in the plain of separation have the foot of bewilderment in the mire, and that the recluses of the cell of affection keep the hands of regret upon their heart. COUPLET. How canst thou, painless, estimate the cruel pang of our regret? How tell what those athirst must feel, while by thee flows the rivulet?' Each of the brotherhood uttered a separate moan, and composed a clamorous and piteous lament suited to his condition, and the tenor of their words had reference to one and the same subject. COUPLET. Without our loved one's sugared lips our hearts exult no more, Reft of our friends, the joy of life, and life itself is o'er. At length the Deer said to the Crow, 'O brother! although our words are extremely eloquent, and the effusions which we utter excessively sweet, yet they do not benefit the Tortoise in the least; and our lamentations and weepings, and bemoanings and disquietude, will not satisfy him. It is more in accordance with good faith that we devise some stratagem, and employ some device which may embrace his release and ensure his escape; 1 Dar hausilah-í ú nah nishinad, a remarkable phrase. and the wise have said, 'The test of four kinds of persons is at four seasons. The courage of the valiant may be known in the day of battle, and the honesty of the upright in the time of lending and borrowing, and the love and fidelity of wife and child may be discerned in the hour of famine, and the truth of friends may be learned in the season of adversity and distress. COUPLET. I lack not friends in happy times, I trow.' Let me a comrade find in time of woe; The Mouse said, 'O Deer! I have thought of a trick. The advisable course is that thou shouldest shew thyself to the hunter, and appear like one fatigued and wounded, and let the Crow alight on thy back and make it seem as if he were attacking thee, and assuredly, when the eyes of the hunter fall upon thee, he will plume himself with the idea of catching thee, and will put down the Tortoise with his gear on the ground and make towards thee. As soon as he comes near thee, run limping away from him, but not to such a distance as to cast off his hope of catching thee. Then keep him a good while employed in chasing thee, and do not fail to encourage him and to regulate thy movements. It may happen that I may release the Tortoise and let him run away.' The friends expressed their admiration of his plan, and the Deer and the Crow shewed themselves to the hunter as had been agreed. When the too credulous hunter beheld the Deer limping along, and the Crow hovering round him and pecking at his eyes, he fancied he should be successful in capturing the deer, and putting down his bag from his back set to work to pursue him. The Mouse forthwith severed the ties of the bag and released the Tortoise, and after an interval, when the hunter was well wearied in pursuing the Deer, and, despairing of success, came back to the bag, he could not see the Tortoise, and found the ties of the bag severed. He was overcome with astonishment, and thought to himself, 'No one would credit these extraordinary circumstances which I have witnessed. First, there was the severing of the Deer's fastenings, and his pretending to be wounded, and the Crow's sitting upon him, and the making a hole in the bag, and the escape of the Tortoise! How are we to explain these acts? In the midst of these reflections, being overcome with terror, he said, 'Most likely this is the haunt of fairies and the abode of dívs; I must get back with speed, and break off all desire for the beasts of this plain. The hunter took up the fragments of his bag and his broken net, and taking to flight, vowed that if he could escape from those wilds, for the rest of his life he would not suffer himself to think of that plain; and he would, out of kindness, warn other hunters not to enter that wilderness. HEMISTICH. For there the net secures nought but the wind.' And when the hunter had gone away, the friends re-assembled and returned to their dwelling-place free from care and safe, and content and peaceful; and thenceforward neither did the hand of calamity reach the skirt of their affairs, nor the nail of trouble lacerate the cheek of their condition or proceedings; and by the happy influence of their agreement and the beauty of their unanimity, the knot of their friendly intercourse was secured, and the bond of their society strengthened. STANZA. The single thread an old dame's strength might break, But Zal1 were weak to rend its twisted ply. Sugar, alone, the heart to burn will make, The roses' unmixed scent the brain will dry. Rose-sugar, sugared-rose, is best to take For vigor, useless if imbibed dividedly. This is the story of the agreement of friends and the narrative of the reciprocal aid and support of companions, and of sincerity of attachment in prosperity and adversity, and of the maintenance of regard in the time of tranquillity and of trouble, and of the discharging social obligations in the season of enjoyment and of hardship, and how these friends displayed steadiness in perfect devotion during the mishaps of time and the vicissitudes of fortune; and, consequently, by the blessing of unanimity and mutual aid, they obtained release from such mortal perils; and, casting disasters and calamities behind them, were securely seated, happy and unruffled, on the throne of friendly converse and the cushion of mirth. Now, it behoves a man of sense to feel it incumbent on him to give proper consideration to these tales with the light of his reason and the clearness of his judgment; for since the friendship of feeble animals yields such admirable fruits and choice results, if a body of wise men, who are the cream of mankind and the élite of the human race, pursue a similar sincere unanimity, and lay the base of friendship on these rules, and conduct to the end this faithfulness of intention and inward purity; how will not the advantages thereof extend to high and low? and the beneficial effects being manifested on the pages of the circumstances of each individual, to what extent will not the blessing of such a proceeding accrue to the fortunes of great and small? VERSE. They who the laws of social converse know, 'Tis rare if friendless we in aught succeed. 1 Zal signifies an old woman,' and is also the name of a famous hero, the father of Rustam. The equivoque cannot be retained in English. CHAPTER IV. IN EXPLANATION OF ATTENTIVELY REGARDING THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF OUR ENEMIES, AND NOT BEING SECURE AS TO THEIR STRATAGEMS AND MACHINATIONS. INTRODUCTION. The King said to the Bráhman, 'I have heard the narrative of mutuallyagreeing friends, and companions fitted for each other and sincere, and I have learned the result of their concord and unanimity, and have become acquainted with the fact that, COUPLET. He feels no grief who has a faithful friend, And one unfriended no delights attend. Now if you would be pleased to recount the story of an enemy, and how one ought not to be deceived by him, nor to rely on his pretended courtesy and submission. For the purport of the fourth precept is this, that it behoves a wise man, from motives of prudence, not to place any confidence in a foe; since friendship will never spring from an enemy. COUPLET. In one now hostile to expect a friend, Is fire and water in one spot to blend.' Bídpáí said, 'Of course a wise man will give no heed to the speech of a foe, nor will purchase the hypocritical wares of his deceit and imposture; for a sagacious enemy, for his own purposes, displays the utmost gentleness, and gives his outward conduct a specious appearance at variance with his inward feelings; and employs all the refinements of dissimulation and the arts of deceit, and under cover of them, disposes deep plans and surprising devices. Wherefore it behoves a man of sense and prudence, the more he observes a fawning and obliging demeanor on the part of his foe, to maintain the greater suspicion and watchfulness; and the more his enemy advances the foot of suavity, the closer to draw in the skirt of acceptance; for if he choose to be supine and leave a crevice open, his adversary, who is always on the watch for this state of things, will suddenly open his ambuscade and shoot the shaft of machination at the target of his wish. And in this case, the opportunity for applying a remedy being lost, his regret and repentance will be unavailing; and 'if' and 'would that,' will be in vain; and that will befall him which happened to the Owl from the Crow.' Dábishlím inquired, How was that?' |