Ah, do you?" said the Camel. "I did not know that. Very well. Let us go
home. Climb up while I am lying down."

So the Jackal climbed upon the Camel's back, and he entered the water
and began to swim across the river, the Jackal riding high on the hump
of the camel so as not to get wet, even to the tip of his tail.

When they were about the middle of the stream the Camel said: "I believe
that I shall roll over."

"Do not do that," exclaimed the Jackal, "for I shall get wet and be
drowned."

"Maybe you will," said the Camel; "but you see I always roll over after
dinner."

So he rolled over in the water, and the Jackal got wet--first the tip of
his tail, and then all over, and was drowned.

HASHNU THE STONECUTTER

_A Japanese Story_

Hashnu the Stonecutter sat beside the highway cutting stone. It was hard
work, and the sun shone hot upon him.

"Ah me!" said Hashnu, "if one only did not have to work all day. I would
that I could sit and rest, and not have to ply this heavy mallet.

Just then there was a great commotion, and Hashnu saw a crowd of people
coming up the road. When they drew nearer he noticed that one of them
was the King. On his right side rode soldiers, all arrayed in armor and
ready to do his bidding, while on the left rode courtiers, seeking to
serve him and win his favor.

And Hashnu, watching, thought what a fine thing it would be to be a
King, and to have soldiers to do his bidding, and courtiers to serve
him, and he said:

"Ah me, ah me,
If Hashnu only a King could be."

At once he heard a voice say: "Be thou the King."

Then in a moment Hashnu found that he was no longer the stonecutter,
sitting beside the highway with a heavy mallet in his hand, but the
King, dressed in armor, riding in the midst of soldiers and courtiers,
and all about him doing homage.

He rode very proudly for a while, and his subjects bowed low before him.
But the armor was heavy, and the helmet pressed hard upon his brow, and
his head throbbed with the weight of it. He was indeed weary and faint
with the heat, because, though a King, the sun beat hot upon him!

And he said to himself: "Lo, I am the King, and yet the sun can make me
faint and weary. I had thought that to be a King was to be stronger than
anything else, but the sun is stronger than the King!"

And as they rode further, and the sun still beat hard upon him, he said:

"Ah me, ah me,
If Hashnu only the sun could be!"