A sage, who was discoursing to a king upon lessons of wisdom and morality, gave him the following illustration of an important principle: “Once upon a time a blind man and his friend were making a journey together, and they halted in a wild place for the night; the morning found them cold and little rested, for the weather had suddenly grown severe. In searching for his whip the blind man picked up a frozen snake, which he found smoother and more nicely polished than his whip, and greatly pleased he mounted his horse, forgetting the faithful old whip which he had lost. His friend, however, could see, and when he beheld the snake in the hand of the blind man, he cried out: ‘Oh, my friend! what thou takest for a whip is a poisonous snake, fling it away before it makes a wound upon thy hand.’ But the blind man fancied that his friend was jealous of his great success in finding so beautiful a whip, and he answered: ‘Oh, friend! it is owing to my good luck, that I have found a better one, and I am not going to be wheedled out of my good fortune by idle tales.’ His friend continued to plead, but the man was obstinate and conceited, as well as blind, and he became angry and frowned upon his faithful friend, while he clung closely to what he believed to be a beautiful thing. After a time the sun rose higher in the heavens, and the air grew more balmy, the snake was also comforted by the warmth of the blind man’s body, and recovering from her torpor, she turned backward, and bit the poor fool who had, clung to her because he fancied she was beautiful; he died of the venom given in the wound.” Then said the sage, “I have adduced this story that thou mayst not be deceived by appearances or fascinated with outward charms, which are as deceitful as the beauties of a snake. Be not attracted by the softness and delicacy of flattery and hypocrisy, for their poison is deadly and their wound is fatal; it is far better to listen to the admonitions of a faithful friend, even though his advice may not always be agreeable, than to be led into the snare of the flatterer, by the poison of her honeyed words. ‘Think not sweet sherbert from the world to drink, Honey with poison is mingled there, That which thou, fondly, dost sweet honey think, Is but the deadly potion of despair.’“ AMICABLE INSTRUCTION.[230] It is said that there lived a wise and virtuous prince, who was greatly afflicted with the conduct of his sons. The young princes “knew no books and were continually working in evil ways,” therefore the rāja asked himself, “Of what use is it that a son should be born who has neither learning nor virtue? Of what use is a blind eye except to give pain? Of a child unborn, dead or ignorant, the two first are preferable, since they make us unhappy but once, and the last by continual degrees. A numerous family under such circumstances is poison, as is a young wife to an old man.”