'That is written of discarding old servants, may it please your Majesty,' observed Damanaka; 'and this Bull is quite a stranger,' 'Wondrous strange!' replied the Lion; 'when I have advanced and protected him that he should plot against me!' 'Your Majesty,' said the Jackal, 'knows what has been written-- 'Raise an evil soul to honor, and his evil bents remain; Bind a cur's tail ne'er so straightly, yet it curleth up again.' 'How, in sooth, should Trust and Honor change the evil nature's root? Though one watered them with nectar, poison-trees bear deadly fruit.' I have now at least warned your Majesty: if evil comes, the fault is not mine,' 'It will not do to condemn the Bull without inquiry,' mused the King; then he said aloud, 'shall we admonish him, think you, Damanaka?' 'No, no, Sire!' exclaimed the Jackal, eagerly; 'that would spoil all our precautions-- 'Safe within the husk of silence guard the seed of counsel so That it break not--being broken, then the seedling will not grow,' What is to be done must be done with despatch. After censuring his treason, would your Majesty still trust the traitor?-- 'Whoso unto ancient fondness takes again a faithless friend, Like she-mules that die conceiving, in his folly finds his end,' 'But wherein can the Bull injure me?' asked Tawny-hide; 'tell me that!' 'Sire,' replied the Jackal, how can I tell it?-- 'Ask who his friends are, ere you scorn your foe; The Wagtail foiled the sea, that did not so,' 'How could that be?' demanded King Tawny-hide. 'The Jackal related:-- THE STORY OF THE WAGTAIL AND THE SEA "On the shore of the Southern Sea there dwelt a pair of Wagtails. The Hen-bird was about to lay, and thus addressed her mate:-- 'Husband, we must look about for a fit place to lay my eggs.' 'My dear,' replied the Cock-bird, 'will not this spot do?' 'This spot!' exclaimed the Hen; 'why, the tide overflows it.' 'Good dame,' said the Cock, 'am I so pitiful a fellow that the Sea will venture to wash the eggs out of my nest?' 'You are my very good Lord,' replied the Hen, with a laugh; 'but still there is a great difference between you and the Sea.' "Afterwards, however, at the desire of her mate, she consented to lay her eggs on the sea-beach. Now the Ocean had overheard all this, and, bent upon displaying its strength, it rose and washed away the nest and eggs. Overwhelmed with grief, the Hen-bird flew to her mate, and cried:-- 'Husband, the terrible disaster has occurred! My eggs arc gone!' 'Be of good heart! my Life,' answered he.