This difference was prolonged between them, and at last the words of both came
to wrangling. The thief was so annoyed that he called out to the recluse: "There
is a demon here who wants to kill thee." The demon, too, shouted: "Here is a
thief, who wants to steal thy buffalo."
The hermit was roused by the uproar, and raised a cry, whereupon the
neighbours came, and both the thief and the demon ran way; and the life and
property of the Holy Man remained safe and secure through the quarrel of his
enemies.
When the two hostile armies fall to strife,
Then from its sheath what need to draw the knife?The King and the Hawk
It is related that in ancient times there was a King fond of hunting. He was ever
giving reins to the courser of his desire in the pursuit of game, and was always
casting the lasso of gladness over the neck of sport. Now this King had a Hawk,
who at a single flight could bring down a pebble from the peak of the Caucasus,
and in terror of whose claws the constellation Aquila kept himself in the green
nest of the sky; and the King had a prodigious fondness for this Hawk and
always cared for it with his own hands.
It happened one day that the Monarch, holding the Hawk on his hand, had gone
to the chase. A stag leapt up before him and he galloped after it with the utmost
eagerness. But he did not succeed in coming up with it, and became separated
from his retinue and servants; and though some of them followed him, the King
rode so hotly that the morning breeze could not have reached the dust he raised.
Meantime the fire of his thirst was kindled, and the intense desire to drink
overcame the King. He galloped his steed in every direction in search of water
until he reached the skirt of a mountain, and beheld that from its summit limpid
water was trickling. The King drew forth a cup which he had in his quiver, and
riding under the mountain filled the cup with that water, which fell drop by drop,
and was about to take a draught, when the Hawk made a blow with his wing, and
spilled all the water in the goblet. The King was vexed at this action, but held the
cup a second time under the rock, until it was brimful. He then raised it to his
lips again, and again the Hawk made a movement and overthrew the cup. The