m the lips of one most wise.

"'Idol worshippers,' said he, 'are like a fowler who caught a tiny
bird, called nightingale. He took a knife, for to kill and eat her;
but the nightingale, being given the power of articulate speech, said
to the fowler, 'Man, what advantageth it thee to slay me? for thou
shalt not be able by my means to fill thy belly. Now free me of my
fetters, and I will give thee three precepts, by the keeping of which
thou shalt be greatly benefited all thy life long.' He, astonied at
her speech, promised that, if he heard anything new from her, he would
quickly free her from her captivity. The nightingale turned towards
our friend and said, 'Never try to attain to the unattainable: never
regret the thing past and gone: and never believe the word that passeth
belief. Keep these three precepts, and may it be well with thee.' The
man, admiring the lucidity and sense of her words, freed the bird from
her captivity, and sent her forth aloft. She, therefore, desirous to
know whether the man had understood the force of her words, and whether
he had gleaned any profit therefrom, said, as she flew aloft, 'Shame,
sir, on thy fecklessness! What a treasure that hast lost to-day! For
I have inside me a pearl larger than an ostrich-egg.' When the fowler
heard thereof, he was distraught with grief, regretting that the bird
had escaped out of his hands. And he would fain have taken her again.
'Come hither,' said he, 'into my house: I will make thee right welcome,
and send thee forth with honour.' But the nightingale said unto him,
'Now I know thee to be a mighty fool. Though thou didst receive my
words readily and gladly, thou hast gained no profit thereby. I bade
thee never regret the thing past and gone; and behold thou art
distraught with grief because I have escaped out of thy hands there
thou regrettest a thing past and gone. I charged thee not to try to
attain to the unattainable, and thou triest to catch me, though thou
canst not attain to my path. Besides which, I bade thee never believe
a word past belief, and behold thou hast believed that I had inside me
a pearl exceeding the measure of my size, and hadst not the sense to
see that my whole body doth not attain to the bulk of ostrich eggs.
How then could I contain such a pearl?"'

"Thus senseless, then, are also they that trust in idols: for these be
their handiwork, and they worship that which their fingers made,
saying, 'These be our creato