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Rh Red-Eye said: "O King, what is there to consider here? Kill him without hesitation. For the proverb says:

Besides, you know how common people say: 'A lost chance brings a curse.' And again:

And this too:

"How was that?" asked Foe-Crusher. And Red-Eye told the story of

There was once a Brahman in a certain place. His time was wholly spent in unproductive farming.

Now one day, toward the end of summer, the heat was too much for him, and he dozed in the shade of a tree in the middle of his field. Not far away he saw, peering over an ant-hill, a terrifying snake that thrust forward a great, swelling hood. And he reflected: "Surely, this is the guardian deity of the field, and I never paid him honor. That is why my farm-work is unproductive. I will pay him honor."