Rassat Rouchin.
"How," said they, "dare we present ourselves before his Majesty in his present
state of anger against us?"
Then the minister responded: "If the instant of death is not yet come for you, I
will try to save you. I tremble to admit you to the King. But what can I do? On
account of the critical situation I will go alone before the King and present your
case." So every day he conducted them only as far as the door of the King. There
they were told of the fines to which they had been condemned. He took in this
way what they had, and sent them home.
This sort of thing continued for a long while until the means of the people were
exhausted and the treasury became absolutely empty. The King, always full of
confidence in the uprightness of the minister, was in complete ignorance of all
this. But at that time there was a king who was an enemy of King Khochtacab.
When he learned that the subjects of the latter were suffering cruelly from the
oppression of his minister and that his generals were weakened by hunger, he
took heart and invaded the kingdom. Then King Khochtacab commanded that
his treasury should be opened, and that they should take out all the wealth to
gratify the army, gain the hearts of the generals, and defray the expenses of the
war. But he found that there was nothing left in the treasury. The army,
weakened, was incapable of resisting. The King, shut up in his fort, found it
impossible to attack the enemy, and they ravaged and despoiled the kingdom.
The King, having been considered so great, was cruelly wounded by shame at
his defeat. He knew not which way to turn his steps. His soul was profoundly
troubled. One day, when he had gone forth from the city, wandering at random
through plain and forest, he saw a shepherd's hut in the distance, at the door of
which were two dogs hanging by the neck. Seeing the King, the shepherd
approached and led him to his hovel and served him with the best food he could
afford. But the King said:
"I shall not eat until you have told me why you have hanged these two dogs at
your cabin-door."
The shepherd responded: "O king of the world, I hanged these two dogs because
they betrayed my flock. As my flock was wasting away, I hid one day to see
what took place. The wolf came and the dogs played with him and let him carry