Another of these poems (x. 117) consists of a collection of maxims inculcating the duty of well-doing and charity:-- Who has the power should give unto the needy, Regarding well the course of life hereafter: Fortune, like two chariot wheels revolving, Now to one man comes nigh, now to another. Ploughing the soil, the share produces nurture; He who bestirs his feet performs his journey; A priest who speaks earns more than one who's silent; A friend who gives is better than the niggard. The fourth of these poems (x. 71) is composed in praise of wise speech. Here are four of its eleven stanzas:-- Where clever men their words with wisdom utter, And sift them as with flail the corn is winnowed, There friends may recognise each other's friendship: A goodly stamp is on their speech imprinted. Whoever his congenial friend abandons, In that man's speech there is not any blessing. For what he hears he hears without advantage: He has no knowledge of the path of virtue. When Brahman friends unite to offer worship, In hymns by the heart's impulse swiftly fashioned, Then not a few are left behind in wisdom, While others win their way as gifted Brahmans. The one sits putting forth rich bloom of verses, Another sings a song in skilful numbers, A third as teacher states the laws of being, A fourth metes out the sacrifice's measure. Even in the ordinary hymns are to be found a few moralising remarks of a cynical nature about wealth and women, such as frequently occur in the ethical literature of the post-Vedic age. Thus one poet exclaims: "How many a maiden is an object of affection to her wooer for the sake of her admirable wealth!" (x. 27, 12); while another addresses the kine he desires with the words: "Ye cows make even the lean man fat, even the ugly man ye make of goodly countenance" (vi. 28, 6). A third observes: "Indra himself said this, 'The mind of woman is hard to instruct, and her intelligence is small'" (viii. 33, 17); and a fourth complains: "There are no friendships with women; their hearts are those of hyenas" (x. 95, 15). One, however, admits that "many a woman is better than the godless and niggardly man" (v. 61, 6). Allied to the didactic poems are the riddles, of which there are at least two collections in the Rigveda. In their simplest form they are found in a poem (29) of the eighth book. In each of its ten stanzas a different deity is described by his characteristic marks, but without being mentioned, the hearer being left to guess his name. Vishnu, for instance, is thus alluded to:-- Another with his mighty stride has made three steps To where the gods rejoice in bliss.