Page:Panchatantra.djvu/35

26 "But," said Victor, "how can you give first-rate service merely from a desire for food with no desire for distinction? There is wisdom in the saying:

And again:

When many lives on one depend,
 * Then life is life indeed:

A crow, with beak equipped, can fill
 * His belly's selfish need.

If loving kindness be not shown
 * To friends and souls in pain,

To teachers, servants, and one's self,
 * What use in life, what gain?

A crow will live for many years
 * And eat the offered grain.

A dog is quite contented if
 * He gets a meatless bone,

A dirty thing with gristle-strings
 * And marrow-fat alone—

And not enough of it at that
 * To still his belly's moan.

The lion scorns the jackal, though
 * Between his paws, to smite

The elephant. For everyone,
 * However sad his plight,

Demands the recompense that he
 * Esteems his native right.