'Very well,' said the Deer; and then, as the glorious King of Day, whose diadem is the light, had withdrawn himself, the two went together to the residence of the Deer. In that same spot, on a branch of Champak, dwelt the Crow Sharp-sense, an old friend of the Deer. Seeing them approach together, the Crow said,
'It is a Jackal,' answered the Deer, 'that desires our acquaintance.'
'You should not become friendly to a stranger without reason,' said Sharp-sense. 'Don't you know?'
"To folks by no one known house-room deny:-- The Vulture housed the Cat, and thence did die."
THE STORY OF THE VULTURE, THE CAT, AND THE BIRDS
"On the banks of the Ganges there is a cliff called Vulture-Crag, and thereupon grew a great fig-tree. It was hollow, and within its shelter lived an old Vulture, named Grey-pate, whose hard fortune it was to have lost both eyes and talons. The birds that roosted in the tree made subscriptions from their own store, out of sheer pity for the poor fellow, and by that means he managed to live. One day, when the old birds were gone, Long-ear, the Cat, came there to get a meal of the nestlings; and they, alarmed at perceiving him, set up a chirruping that roused Grey-pate.
"Now Long-ear, on espying the Vulture, thought himself undone; but as flight was impossible, he resolved to trust his destiny and approach.
'My lord,' said he, 'I have the honor to salute thee.'
'Be off, Cat, or I shall slay thee,' said the Vulture.
'I am ready to die if I deserve death,' answered the Cat; 'but let what I have to say be heard,'
'Wherefore, then, comest thou?' said the Vulture.
'I live,' began Long-ear, 'on the Ganges, bathing, and eating no flesh, practising the moon-penance,[8] like a Bramacharya. The birds that resort thither constantly praise your worship to me as one wholly given to the study of morality, and worthy of all trust; and so I came here to learn law from thee, Sir, who art so deep gone in learning and in years. Dost thou, then, so read the law of strangers as to be ready to slay a guest? What say the books about the householder?--
'Bar thy door not to the stranger, be he friend or be he foe, For the tree will shade the woodman while his axe doth lay it low,'
And if means fail, what there is should be given with kind words, as--