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 192 Presently a large troop of Monkeys came frolicking through the trees, and upon reaching the clearing began to sport among the timbers of the half-finished temple. One of these Monkeys, unconscious of approaching fate, got astride of the half-sawed beam and grasping the Wedge, swung himself down into the cleft, so that his tail and legs dangled between the two halves of the beam. Not content with this, in the spirit of mischief natural to all Monkeys, he began to tug at the Wedge, until at last it yielded and slipped out, whereupon the wood closed in upon him and jammed him fast. So perished the Monkey, miserably crushed, the victim of his inquisitive meddling.

(Hitopadeça. Book II. Fable I. Adapted from translation by Sir Edwin Arnold.)

THE WASHERMAN'S JACKASS

HERE once lived in Benares a Washerman named Carpurapataka, who kept an Ass and a Dog in his courtyard, the former tethered, and the latter running at large. One day the Washerman, who had been lately married, was spending the morning in the company of his wife, when a thief entered the house and began to carry out his valuables. Seeing what the thief was doing, the Ass was much disturbed.

"Friend Dog," he said, "this is your business. Why do you not bark loudly and rouse our master?"

"Friend Ass," replied the Dog, "leave me to guard this place in my own way. I can do it quite well if I choose. But the truth is that our master has felt so safe lately that he quite forgets me, and I no longer get regularly fed. Masters are all like that. And a little scare will help to make him remember me."

"You wretched cur!" exclaimed the Ass, "what sort of a servant would stop for pay when there is work to be done?"