Page:Folk-lore of the Telugus.djvu/43

35 beat it well, lay down, and was enjoying sound sleep once again, when the robbers broke in and began plundering the house. At this juncture the dog returned. The ass, seeing the dog, narrated to him what had happened; how the thieves broke into the house and earned off the greater part of the property; how he had brayed, wishing to prevent the occurrence; how it was misunderstood by their master; what a severe drubbing he had received, and so on. He requested the dog at any rate to bark and let the master know the fact. Thereupon the dog began to bark loudly. The washerman hearing it and thinking that the house was being broken open by robbers, rose immediately and searching into every corner of the house,found that the thieves had carried everything off, and was very much grieved.

Moral:—Let the shoemaker stick to his last.