"And thus, the tiger discovering that he is nothing but a Jackal, will presently put
him to death."
In short, the plan was executed, and the event was just as it had been foretold. I
repeat, therefore: "The fool who forsaketh his own party and delighteth to dwell
with the opposite side, may be killed by them."
[1]A dyer's vat, in Hindostan, is a large pan sunk in the ground, often in the little
court before the dyer's house.
The Mouse Who Became a Tiger
One of low degree, having obtained a worthy station, seeketh to destroy his
master; like the mouse, who having been raised to the state of a Tiger, went to
kill the Hermit.
In a certain forest, there once dwelt a Hermit whose name was Maha-tapa. One
day seeing a young Mouse fall from the mouth of a crow near his hermitage, out
of compassion be took it up and reared it with broken particles of rice. He now
observed that the cat was seeking to destroy it; so, by the sacred powers of a
saint, he metamorphosed his Mouse into a cat; but his cat being afraid of his dog,
he changed her into a dog; and the dog being terrified at the tiger, at length he
was transformed into a Tiger. The holy man now regarded the Tiger as no way
superior to his Mouse. But the people who came to visit the Hermit, used to tell
one another that the Tiger which they saw there had been made so by the power
of the saint, from a Mouse; and this being overheard by the Tiger, he was very
uneasy, and said to himself: "As long as this Hermit is alive, the disgraceful
story of my former state will be brought to my ears"; saying which he went to
kill his protector; but as the holy man penetrated his design with his supernatural
eye, he reduced him to his former state of a Mouse. I repeat, therefore: "One of
low degree, having obtained a worthy station, may seek to destroy his master."
The Brahmin and the Goat
He who, judging by what passeth in his own breast, believeth a knave to be a
person of veracity, is deceived; as the Brahmin was concerning his Goat.