Page:Folk-lore of the Telugus.djvu/93

85 that he would give the dove's weight of flesh from his body, instead of the dove itself. The hawk consented to the proposal. The king thereupon brought scales, put the dove on one pan and his flesh on the other, and seeing that even a great quantity of his flesh did not equally balance the dove's, the king himself sat in one of the pans, when the scales were rendered equal. Whereupon the hawk and the dove thought very highly of the king, assumed their own forms, stood before the king, praised him, conferred certain boons on him and went to their respective worlds.

Moral:—Good men will even forego their lives in order to protect those who trust in them.