cloud attended accordingly.

'Crow!' asked King Jewel-plume, 'what sort of a Monarch is the Rajah
Silver-sides?'

'Truthful, may it please you,' replied the Crow; 'and therewithal noble
as Yudisthira himself.'

'And his Minister, the Goose?'

'Is a Minister unrivalled, my Liege,' said the Crow-king.

'But how then didst thou so easily deceive them?'

'Ah! your Majesty,' said the Crow, 'there was little credit in that. Is
it not said?--

'Cheating them that truly trust you, 'tis a clumsy villainy!
Any knave may slay the child who climbs and slumbers on his knee.'

Besides, the Minister detected me immediately. It was the King whose
innate goodness forbade him to suspect evil in another:--

'Believe a knave, thyself scorning a lie,
And rue it, like the Brahman, by and by.'

'What Brahman was that?' asked the King. Night-cloud replied:--

THE STORY OF THE BRAHMAN AND THE GOAT

"A Brahman that lived in the forest of Gautama, your Majesty. He had
purveyed a goat to make pooja, and was returning home with it on life
shoulder when he was descried by three knaves. 'If we could but obtain
that goat,' said they, 'it would be a rare trick'; and they ran on, and
seated themselves at the foot of three different trees upon the
Brahman's road. Presently he came up with the first of them, who
addressed him thus: 'Master! why do you carry that dog on your
shoulder?' 'Dog!' said the Brahman, 'it is a goat for sacrifice!' With
that he went on a coss, and came to the second knave; who called
out--'What doest thou with that dog, Master?' The Brahman laid his goat
upon the ground, looked it all over, took it up again upon his back, and
walked on with his mind in a whirl; for--

'The good think evil slowly, and they pay
A price for faith--as witness "Crop-ear" may.'

'Who was Crop-ear?' asked the King of the Peacocks.

THE STORY OF THE CAMEL, THE LION, AND HIS COURT

"A Camel, may it please you," replied Night-cloud, "who strayed away
from a kafila, and wandered into the forest. A Lion, named
'Fierce-fangs,' lived in that forest; and his three courtiers, a Tiger,
a Jackal, and a Crow, met the Camel, and conducted him to their King.
His account of himself was satisfactory, and the Lion took him into his
service under the name of Crop-ear. Now it happened that the rainy
season was very severe, and the Lion became indisposed, so that there
was much difficulty in obtaining food for the Court. The co