Jain Shwetambar Conference Herald 1910 Book 06

Author(s): Mohanlal Dalichand Desai
Publisher: Jain Shwetambar Conference

Page 361

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Æsop's Fables.
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virtue of his prerogative; and finally he assumed a menacing attitude, and dared any one to dispute his right to the fourth part also.
In the fable of the Sick Lion and the Fox, the fox says: “I see the foot-prints of beasts who have gone into the cave, büt of none that have come out." The fable of the Cat and the Mice expresses the same thought, namely, that it is necessary to be ever on one's guard against the migbty oppressors even when their power seems for the time to have deserted them. The cat pretends to be dead, hoping by this means to ērtice the mice within her reach. A cuññing old mouse peeps over the edge of the shelf, and says: “Aha, my good friend, are you there? I would not trust myself with you though your skin were stuffed with straw.”
The fable of the King Log and King Stork shows what & poor choice the people have in the matter of their kings. First they have a fool for their king a mere log, and they are discontented. Then Stork ascends the throne, and be devours them. It would have been better if they had put up with the fool. The injustice of despotic rulers is exeinplified in the fable of the Kite and the Wolf. The kite and the wolf are seated in Judgment. The dog comes before them to sue the sheep for debt. Kite and Wolf, without waiting for the evidence, give sentence for the plaintiff, who immediately tears the poor sheep into pieces and divides the spoil with the judges. The sort of thanks which the people get when they are foolish enough to come to the assistance of their masters, is illustrat. - ed by the conduct of the wolf toward the crane. The wolt happened to have a bone stickiug in its throat, and, howling with pain, proinised a reward to any one wbo should relieve him. At last the crane ventured his long neck into the wolf's throat and plucked out the bone. But when he asked for his reward, the wolf glared savagely upon him, and said: "Is it not enough that I refrained from bitting off your head"? How dangerous it is to come at all into close contact with the mighty, is shown in the fable of the Earthen and the Brazen