‘Let meddlers mark it, and be edified.’

‘But surely,’ argued Damanaka, ’servants are bound to watch the movements of their masters!’

‘Let the prime minister do it, then,’ answered Karataka; ’it is his business to overlook things, and subordinates shouldn’t interfere in the department of their chief.  You might get ass’s thanks for it—­

    ’The Ass that hee-hawed, when the dog should do it,
    For his lord’s welfare, like an ass did rue it.’

Damanaka asked how that happened, and Karataka related:—­

THE STORY OF THE WASHERMAN’S JACKASS

“There was a certain Washerman at Benares, whose name was Carpurapataka, and he had an Ass and a Dog in his courtyard; the first tethered, and the last roaming loose.  Once on a time, when he had been spending his morning in the society of his wife, whom he had just married, and had fallen to sleep in her arms, a robber entered the house, and began to carry off his goods.  The Ass observed the occupation of the thief, and was much concerned.

‘Good Dog,’ said he, ’this is thy matter:  why dost thou not bark aloud, and rouse the master?’

‘Gossip Ass,’ replied the Dog, ’leave me alone to guard the premises.  I can do it, if I choose; but the truth is, this master of ours thinks himself so safe lately that he clean forgets me, and I don’t find my allowance of food nearly regular enough.  Masters will do so; and a little fright will put him in mind of his defenders again.’

‘Thou scurvy cur!’ exclaimed the Ass—­

‘At the work-time, asking wages—­is it like a faithful herd?’

‘Thou extreme Ass!’ replied the Dog.

‘When the work’s done, grudging wages—­is that acting like a lord?’

‘Mean-spirited beast,’ retorted the Ass, ’who neglectest thy master’s business!  Well, then, I at least will endeavor to arouse him; it is no less than religion,

    ’Serve the Sun with sweat of body; starve thy maw to feed the flame;
    Stead thy lord with all thy service; to thy death go, quit of blame.’

So saying, he put forth his very best braying.  The Washerman sprang up at the noise, and missing the thief, turned in a rage upon the Ass for disturbing him, and beat it with a cudgel to such an extent that the blows resolved the poor animal into the five elements of death.  ’So that,’ continued Karataka, ’is why I say, Let the prime minister look to him.  The hunting for prey is our duty—­let us stick to it, then.  And this,’ he said, with a meditative look, ’need not trouble us to-day; for we have a capital dish of the royal leavings.’

‘What!’ said Damanaka, rough with rage, ’dost thou serve the King for the sake of thy belly?  Why take any such trouble to preserve an existence like thine?—­

    ’Many prayers for him are uttered whereon many a life relies;
    ‘Tis but one poor fool the fewer when the gulping Raven dies.’