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off a trunk of a tree, that he was not alarmed at such small things; besides, he wished to enjoy the delicious honey. And this is the whole drama represented in the picture," said my father. This was very interesting to me, but I was not satisfied, and I said to my father—"Surely there must be a meaning to this drama. Will you not tell me the meaning ?" And he did when he saw I desired so earnestly to know.
He said "The picture is symbolical. The great forest is the world. The man in the well is the ordinary worldly man. The well with its dangers is the life of that man, over wbich all men are suspended who care for nothing beyond the present life. The elephant after him is death. The great serpent at the bottom of the well is the lowest existence to wbich those go, who will not make an effort to escape and who waste their forces in a useless or evil life with no effort or desire to rise to a higher life--who live for the present life only. The four snakes in the walls of the well are the syinbols of Anger, Vanity, Deceit and Greediness. The trunk of the tree represents the short duration of our earthly life. The two rats, black and white, represent time (our month is divided into the light half and the dark half) which exhausts our earthly duration. The bees in the boney-comb are the organs of senses-the honey drops represent the sensuous pleasures, and the
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