Here his meditations were cut short by the Tiger devouring him.  “And that,” said Speckle-neck, “is why we counselled caution.”

“Why, yes!” said a certain pigeon, with some presumption, “but you’ve read the verse—­

’Counsel in danger; of it
Unwarned, be nothing begun. 
But nobody asks a Prophet
Shall the risk of a dinner be run?’

Hearing that, the Pigeons settled at once; for we know that

    “Avarice begetteth anger; blind desires from her begin;
    A right fruitful mother is she of a countless spawn of sin.’

And again,

    ’Can a golden Deer have being? yet for such the Hero pined:—­
    When the cloud of danger hovers, then its shadow dims the mind.’

Presently they were caught in the net.  Thereat, indeed, they all began to abuse the pigeon by whose suggestion they had been ensnared.  It is the old tale!

    “Be second and not first!—­the share’s the same
    If all go well.  If not, the Head’s to blame.”

And we should remember that

    “Passion will be Slave or Mistress:  follow her, she brings to woe;
    Lead her, ’tis the way to Fortune.  Choose the path that thou wilt go.”

When King Speckle-neck heard their reproaches, he said, “No, no! it is no fault of his.

’When the time of trouble cometh, friends may ofttimes irk us most:  For the calf at milking-hour the mother’s leg is tying-post.’

’And in disaster, dismay is a coward’s quality; let us rather rely on fortitude, and devise some remedy.  How saith the sage?

    “In good fortune not elated, in ill-fortune not dismayed,
    Ever eloquent in council, never in the fight affrayed—­
    Proudly emulous of honor, steadfastly on wisdom set;
    Perfect virtues in the nature of a noble soul are met. 
    Whoso hath them, gem and glory of the three wide worlds[4] is he;
    Happy mother she that bore him, she who nursed him on her knee.”

“Let us do this now directly,” continued the King:  “at one moment and with one will, rising under the net, let us fly off with it:  for indeed

    ’Small things wax exceeding mighty, being cunningly combined:—­
    Furious elephants are fastened with a rope of grass-blades twined.’

“And it is written, you know,

    ’Let the household hold together, though the house be ne’er so small;
    Strip the rice-husk from the rice-grain, and it groweth not at all.’

Having pondered this advice, the Pigeons adopted it; and flew away with the net.  At first the fowler, who was at a distance, hoped to recover them, but as they passed out of sight with the snare about them he gave up the pursuit.  Perceiving this, the Pigeons said,

“What is the next thing to be done, O King?”

“A friend of mine,” said Speckle-neck, “lives near in a beautiful forest on the Gundaki.  Golden-skin is his name—­the King of the Mice—­he is the one to cut these bonds.”