great store of dinars and began to turn them over.
When the mouse heard the chink of the coin, she put
her head out of her hole and fell to gazing at it,
till the merchant laid it under his pillow and went
to sleep, when she said to the flea, “Seest
thou not the proffered occasion and the great good
fortune? Hast thou any device to bring us to
our desire of yonder dinars? Quoth the flea,
“Verily, it is not good that one strives for
aught, unless he be able to win his will; because,
if he lack ability thereto, he falleth into that which
he should avoid and he attaineth not his wish by reason
of his weakness, albeit he use all power of cunning,
like the sparrow which picketh up grain and falleth
into the net and is caught by the fowler. Thou
hast no strength to take the dinars and to transport
them out of this house, nor have I force sufficient
to do this; I the contrary, I could not carry a single
ducat of them; so what hast thou to do with them?”
Quoth the mouse, “I have made me for my house
these seventy openings, whence I may go out at my
desire, and I have set apart a place strong and safe,
for things of price; and if thou can contrive to get
the merchant out of the house, I doubt not of success,
an so be that Fate aid me.” Answered
the flea, “I will engage to get him out of the
house for thee;” and, going to the merchant’s
bed, bit him a fearful bite, such as he had never
before felt, then fled to a place of safety, where
he had no fear of the man. So the merchant awoke
and sought for the flea, but finding him not, lay
down again on his other side. Then the flea bit
him a second time more painfully than before.
So he lost patience and, leaving his bed, went out
and lay down on the bench before his door and slept
there and woke not till the morning. Meanwhile
the mouse came out and fell to carrying the dinars
into her hole, till she left not a single one; and
when day dawned the merchant began to suspect the
folk and fancy all manner of fancies. And (continued
the fox) know thou, O wise and experienced crow with
the clear-seeing eyes, that I tell thee this only to
the intent that thou mayst reap the recompense of
thy kindness to me, even as the mouse reaped the reward
of her kindness to the flea; for see how he repaid
her and requited her with the goodliest of requitals.
Said the crow, “It lies with the benefactor
to show benevolence or not to show it; nor is it incumbent
on us to entreat kindly one who seeketh a connection
that entaileth separation from kith and kin.
If I show thee favour who art my foe by kind, I am
the cause of cutting myself off from the world; and
thou, O fox, art full of wiles and guiles. Now
those whose characteristics are craft and cunning,
must not be trusted upon oath; and whoso is not to
be trusted upon oath, in him there is no good faith.
The tidings lately reached me of thy treacherous
dealing with one of thy comrades, which was a wolf;
and how thou didst deceive him until thou leddest