Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/55

 and the sea? People must follow good advice, otherwise, they will be ruined."

Story of the Tortoise and the two Swans.* :—For there was in a certain lake a tortoise, named Kambugríva, and he had two swans for friends, Vikata and Sankata. Once on a time the lake was dried up by drought, and they wanted to go to another lake; so the tortoise said to them, ' Take me also to the lake you are desirous of going to." When the two swans heard this, they said to their friend the tortoise " The lake to which we wish to go is a tremendous distance off; but, if you wish to go there too, you must do what we tell you. You must take in your teeth a stick held by us, and while travelling through the air, you must remain perfectly silent, otherwise you will fall and be killed." The tortoise agreed, and took the stick in his teeth, and the two swans flew up into the air, holding the two ends of it. And gradually the two swans, carrying the tortoise, drew near that lake, and were seen by some men living in a town below; and the thoughtless tortoise heard them making a chattering, while they were discussing with one another, what the strange thing could be that the swans were carrying. So the tortoise asked the swans what the chattering below was about, and in so doing let go the stick from its mouth, and falling down to the earth, was there killed by the men.

" Thus you see that a person who lets go common sense will be ruined, like the tortoise that let go the stick." When the hen-bird said this, the cock-bird answered her, " This is true, my dear, but hear this story also."

Story of the three Fish.:— Of old time there were three fish in a lake near a river, one was called Anágatavidhátri, a second Pratyutpannamati and the third Yadbhavishya, †

in the old Greek translation. This looks as if the Hebrew version, from which John of Capua translates, was the best representation of the original Indian work.