"You cannot drink that water; there is a snake in the spring, and she has let her venom into the water. It is fortunate that the Falcon has spilled the water. If you had drunk it, you would have died." The King said: "How badly I have repaid the Falcon! He has saved my life, and I killed him." THE KING AND THE ELEPHANTS An Indian King ordered all the Blind People to be assembled, and when they came, he ordered that all the Elephants be shown to them. The Blind Men went to the stable and began to feel the Elephants. One felt a leg, another a tail, a third the stump of a tail, a fourth a belly, a fifth a back, a sixth the ears, a seventh the tusks, and an eighth a trunk. Then the King called the Blind Men, and asked them: "What are my Elephants like?" One Blind Man said: "Your Elephants are like posts." He had felt the legs. Another Blind Man said: "They are like bath brooms." He had felt the end of the tail. A third said: "They are like branches." He had felt the tail stump. The one who had touched a belly said: "The Elephants are like a clod of earth." The one who had touched the sides said: "They are like a wall." The one who had touched a back said: "They are like a mound." The one who had touched the ears said: "They are like a mortar." The one who had touched the tusks said: "They are like horns." The one who had touched the trunk said that they were like a stout rope. And all the Blind Men began to dispute and to quarrel. WHY THERE IS EVIL IN THE WORLD A Hermit was living in the forest, and the animals were not afraid of him. He and the animals talked together and understood each other. Once the Hermit lay down under a tree, and a Raven a Dove, a Stag, and a Snake gathered in the same place, to pass the night. The animals began to discuss why there was evil in the world. The Raven said: "All the evil in the world comes from hunger. When I eat my fill, I sit down on a branch and croak a little, and it is all jolly and good, and everything gives me pleasure; but let me just go without eating a day or two, and everything palls on me so that I do not feel like looking at God's world. And something draws me on, and I fly from place to place, and have no rest. When I catch a glimpse of some meat, it makes me only feel sicker than ever, and I make for it without much thinking. At times they throw sticks and stones at me, and the wolves and dogs grab me, but I do not give in. Oh, how many of my brothers are perishing through hunger! All evil comes from hunger." The Dove said: