‘Alas!’ answered the Jackal, ’what can I say in such a strait!—­

    ’Even as one who grasps a serpent, drowning in the bitter sea,
    Death to hold and death to loosen—­such is life’s perplexity.’

’And therewithal the Jackal heaved a deep sigh, and squatted down.

‘But, good friend,’ said the Bull, ’at least tell me what is in thy mind.’

‘Bull,’ began Damanaka, ’it is a King’s secret, and should not be spoken; but thou didst come here upon my safeguard, and as I hope for the life to come, I will tell thee of what touches thee so nearly.  Listen!—­the heart of the King is turned against thee! he hath sworn secretly that he will kill thee and feast upon thy flesh.’

’Then Lusty-life the Bull was sorely troubled, and he fell a-musing thus—­

    “Woman’s love rewards the worthless—­kings of knaves exalters be;
    Wealth attends the selfish niggard, and the cloud rains on the sea.”

‘Can this be the Jackal’s doing?’ he reflected.  Going with honest folk will not make one honest—­

    ’Many a knave wins fair opinions standing in fair company,
    As the sooty soorma pleases, lighted by a brilliant eye.’

Then he said aloud, ’wherein can I have angered the King?  Do kings hate without cause?  I can tell nothing, except that there is no happiness which abides long—­

    ’Where the azure lotus[15] blossoms, there the alligators hide;
    In the sandal-tree are serpents.  Pain and pleasure live allied.’

I thought his Majesty noble as the sandal-tree; but that, indeed, is not wholly noble—­

    ’Rich the sandal—­yet no part is but a vile thing habits there;
    Snake and wasp haunt root and blossom; on the boughs sit ape and bear.’

‘Bull,’ said Damanaka, ’I knew the King of old for one whose tongue was honey and whose heart was poison.’

‘But how very hard!’ said the Bull, ’that he, being a lion, should attack me, an innocent eater of grass!’

‘It is very hard!’ said the Jackal.

‘Who can have set him against me?’ asked the Bull.

‘Being so, it cannot be bettered,’ replied the Jackal, ’whoever did it—­

    ’As a bracelet of crystal, once broke, is not mended;
    So the favor of princes, once altered, is ended.’

‘Yes,’ said the Bull, ’and a king incensed is terrible—­

    ’Wrath of kings, and rage of lightning—­both be very full of dread;
    But one falls on one man only—­one strikes many victims dead,’

Still, I can but die—­and I will die fighting!  When death is certain, and no hope left but in battle, that is the time for war,’

‘It is so,’ said the Jackal.

’Having weighed all this, Lusty-life inquired of the Jackal by what signs he might conclude the King’s hostile intentions.

‘If he glowers upon thee,’ answered Damanaka, ’and awaits thee with ears pricked, tail stiffened, paw upraised, and muzzle agape, then thou mayest get thee to thy weapons like a Bull of spirit, for