in reference to us directly or indirectly. Now, how many soever
allusions thou mayest hear, or whatever manoeuvres thou mayest observe,
thou must close the path of reply, and not loose thy tongue."

The Tortoise answered: "I am obedient to your commands, and I will
positively place the seal of silence on my lips, so that I shall not be
even disposed to answer any creature."

The Geese then brought a stick, and the Tortoise laid hold of the
middle of it firmly with his teeth, and they, lifting the two ends of
the stick, bore him up. When they got to a height in the air, they
happened to pass over a village, and the inhabitants thereof having
discovered them, were astonished at their proceedings, and came out to
look at the sight, and raised a shout from left and right, "Look! how
two geese are carrying a tortoise!"

And as in those days the like of it had never been witnessed by that
people, their cries and exclamations increased every moment. The
Tortoise was silent for a time, but at length the cauldron of his
self-esteem began to boil, and his patience being exhausted, he
exclaimed: "You who are shouting to others to look at what is plain
enough to every one, hold your peace!" No sooner had he opened his
lips, however, than he fell from on high, and the Geese exclaimed, "It
is the part of friends to give advice and of the well-disposed to
listen to it."

And the moral of this story is, that whoever listens not to the
admonition of friends, with the hearing of acceptance, will have
hastened his own destruction.