"Oh, Brother Eagle, Brother Eagle! Tell us if it seems to you fair that
this Tiger should eat me up, when I have just saved him from a frightful
cage?"

The Eagle soared slowly overhead a moment, then he came lower, and spoke
in a thin, clear voice.

"I live high in the air," he said, "and I do no man any harm. Yet as
often as they find my eyrie, men stone my young and rob my nest and
shoot at me with arrows. Men are a cruel breed. Let the Tiger eat the
Brahmin!"

The Tiger sprang upon the Brahmin, to eat him up; and this time the
Brahmin had very hard work to persuade him to wait. At last he did
persuade him, however, and they walked on together. And in a little
while they saw an old Alligator, lying half buried in mud and slime, at
the river's edge.

"Brother Alligator, oh, Brother Alligator!" said the Brahmin, "does it
seem at all right or fair to you that this Tiger should eat me up, when
I have just now let him out of a cage?"

The old Alligator turned in the mud, and grunted, and snorted; then he
said,--

"I lie here in the mud all day, as harmless as a pigeon; I hunt no man,
yet every time a man sees me, he throws stones at me, and pokes me with
sharp sticks, and jeers at me. Men are a worthless lot. Let the Tiger
eat the Brahmin!"

At this the Tiger was going to eat the Brahmin at once. The poor Brahmin
had to remind him, again and again, that they had asked only four.

"Wait till we've asked one more! Wait until we see a fifth!" he begged.

Finally, the Tiger walked on with him.

After a time, they met the little Jackal, coming gaily down the road
toward them.

"Oh, Brother Jackal, dear Brother Jackal," said the Brahmin, "give us
your opinion! Do you think it right or fair that this Tiger should eat
me, when I set him free from a terrible cage?"

"Beg pardon?" said the little Jackal.

"I said," said the Brahmin, raising his voice, "do you think it is fair
that the Tiger should eat me, when I set him free from his cage?"

"Cage?" said the little Jackal, vacantly.

"Yes, yes, his cage," said the Brahmin. "We want your opinion. Do you
think----"

"Oh," said the little Jackal, "you want my opinion? Then may I beg you
to speak a little more loudly, and make the matter quite clear? I am a
little slow of understanding. Now what was it?"

"Do you think," said the Brahmin, "it is right for this Tiger to eat me,
when I set him free from his cage?"

"What cage?" said the little Jackal.

"Why, the