Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night - Volume 3.djvu/167

Rh a bitch, he also shall suck her. And how well quoth the poet,

When Fortune weighs heavy on some of us, ○ And makes camel kneel by some other one, Say to those who rejoice in our ills:—Awake! ○ The rejoicer shall suffer as we have done!

And death in company is the best of things; wherefore I will certainly and assuredly hasten to slay thee ere thou see me slain." Said the fox to himself, "Ah! Ah! I am fallen into the snare with this tyrant, and my case calleth for the use of craft and cunning; for indeed it is said that a woman fashioneth her jewellery for the day of display, and quoth the proverb:—I have not kept thee, O my tear, save for the time when distress draweth near. And unless I make haste to circumvent this prepotent beast I am lost without recourse; and how well saith the poet:—

Make thy game by guile, for thou'rt born in a Time ○ Whose sons are lions in forest lain; And turn on the leat of thy knavery ○ That the mill of subsistence may grind thy grain; And pluck the fruits or, if out of reach, ○ Why, cram thy maw with the grass on plain."

Then said the fox to the wolf, "Hasten not to slay me, for that is not the way to pay me and thou wouldst repent it, O thou valiant wild beast, lord of force and exceeding prowess! An thou accord delay and consider what I shall say, thou wilt ken what purpose I proposed; but if thou hasten to kill me it will profit thee naught and we shall both die in this very place." Answered the wolf "O thou wily trickster, what garreth thee hope to work my deliverance and thine own, that thou prayest me to grant thee delay? Speak and propound to me thy purpose." Replied the fox, "As for the purpose I proposed, it was one which deserveth that thou guerdon me handsomely for it; for when I heard thy promises and thy