8.  What did Hiranya’s readiness to let Laghupatin carry him show?

CHAPTER V

After flying along for several hours, the crow began to feel very tired.  He was seized too with a great desire to hear his own voice again.  So he flew to the ground, laid his little companion gently down, and gave vent to a number of hoarse cries, which quite frightened Hiranya, who timidly asked him what was the matter.

“Nothing whatever,” answered Laghupatin, “except that you are not quite so light as I thought you were, and that I need a rest; besides which, I am hungry and I expect you are.  We had better stop here for the night, and start again early to-morrow morning.”  Hiranya readily agreed to this, and after a good meal, which was easily found, the two settled down to sleep, the crow perched in a tree, the mouse hidden amongst its roots.  Very early the next day they were off again, and soon arrived at the river, where they were warmly welcomed by the tortoise.  The three had a long talk together, and agreed never to part again.  The tortoise, who had lived a great deal longer than either the mouse or the crow, was a very pleasant companion; and even Laghupatin, who was very fond of talking himself, liked to listen to his stories of long ago.

“I wonder,” said the tortoise, whose name was Mandharaka, to the mouse, “that you are not afraid to travel about as you have done, with your soft little body unprotected by any armour.  Look how different it is for me; it is almost impossible for any of the wild creatures who live near this river to hurt me, and they know it full well.  See how thick and strong my armour is.  The claws even of a tiger, a wild cat or an eagle, could not penetrate it.  I am very much afraid, my little friend, that you will be gobbled up some fine day, and Laghupatin and I will seek for you in vain.”

“Of course,” said the mouse, “I know the truth of what you say; but I can very easily hide from danger—­much more easily than you or Laghupatin.  A tuft of moss or a few dead leaves are shelter enough for me, but big fellows like you and the crow can be quite easily seen.  Nobody saw me when the pigeons were all caught except Laghupatin; and I would have kept out of his sight if I had not known that he did not care to eat mice.”

In spite of the fears of Mandharaka, the mouse and the crow lived as his guests for a long time without any accident; and one day they were suddenly joined by a new companion, a creature as unlike any one of the three friends as could possibly be imagined.  This was a very beautiful deer, who came bounding out of the forest, all eager to escape from the hunters, by whom he had been pursued, but too weary to reach the river, across which he had hoped to be able to swim to safety.  Just as he reached the three friends, he fell to the ground, almost crushing the mouse, who darted away in the nick of time.  Strange to say, the hunters did not follow the deer; and it was evident that they had not noticed the way he had gone.