The Mule went to the Lion and the net fell and caught them both. At sunrise the
Hunter came and found the Mule and the Lion in his net. The Mule begged
earnestly and said, "Hunter, you know me and you know my mother. We are
your friends and we do no wrong. Set me free, oh, hunter, set me free!"
The Hunter said, "No, I will not set you free. You may be good, but you are in
bad company and must take what it brings. I will take you and the Lion both to
the market place and sell you for silver. That is my right. I am a hunter. If you
get in my net, that is your business. If I catch you, that is my business."
EE-SZE (Meaning): Bad company is a dangerous thing for man or beast.
The Lion and the Mosquitoes
One day Ah-Fou's father said to him, "Come here, my boy, and I will tell you a
story. Do you remember the great lion we saw one day, which Ah-Kay caught?
You know a strong rope held him, and he roared and tried to free himself until
he died. Then when Ah-Kay took him from the net, he looked at the rope and the
bamboo carefully, and found five of the great ropes broken.
"How strong is the lion? Twenty children like you could not break one strand of
that great rope. But the lion broke five complete ropes. He is the strongest of all
animals. He catches many creatures for his food, but once he lost a battle with
one of the least of the wilderness creatures. Do you know what it was?"
"A bird could fight and then fly away. Was it a bird?"
"No, my son."
"A man is stronger than a lion."
"No; do you not remember the woodcutter who could put down five strong men?
One night a wilderness lion caught and killed him."
"Then what was the smallest of all creatures of the wilderness that battled with a
lion?"
The father said, "I will tell you the story: Once in the summer time the Lion was