[2] The Vedas are the holy books of India. They are four in number: The
Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda, and Atharva-Veda.




THE WINNING OF FRIENDS


Sans way or wealth, wise friends their purpose gain--
The Mouse, Crow, Deer, and Tortoise make this plain."

"However was that?" asked the Princes.

Vishnu-Sarman replied:--

"On the banks of the Godavery there stood a large silk-cotton-tree, and
thither at night, from all quarters and regions, the birds came to
roost. Now once, when the night was just spent, and his Radiance the
Moon, Lover of the white lotus, was about to retire behind the western
hills, a Crow who perched there, 'Light o' Leap' by name, upon
awakening, saw to his great wonder a fowler approaching--a second God of
Death. The sight set him reflecting, as he flew off uneasily to follow
up the man's movements, and he began to think what mischief this
ill-omened apparition foretold.

"For a thousand thoughts of sorrow, and a hundred things of dread,
By the wise unheeded, trouble day by day the foolish head."

And yet in this life it must be that