Page:Chinese Fables and Folk Stories.djvu/40

36 wax; and in two hours they were sealed so that they could not move nor breathe.

The bee king then said to the snails, "At first I thought you were friends, and I offered you shelter for the night and all the honey you could eat. But you thought the Creator made the earth for you alone and nothing for any one else. With such natures as yours, if you were as large and powerful as the birds or the beasts, there would be no room for any other creature in all the world. Truly you spoke, when you said you would stay, for now you die."

Then the king moved all his people away to a new house and left the snails to die.

One day when the master came to get honey and saw the empty house and the five dead snails, he said, "This bee house, with all the honey, is poisoned. It must be cleansed."

And the dead snails and the spoiled honey were sunk into the earth together, but the bees lived on and were happy and useful.

(Meaning): The proud and selfish want everything, but deserve nothing.