buffalo, and then kill the hermit."

This difference was prolonged between them, and at last the words of
both came to wrangling. The thief was so annoyed that he called out to
the recluse: "There is a demon here who wants to kill thee." The
demon, too, shouted: "Here is a thief, who wants to steal thy buffalo."

The hermit was roused by the uproar, and raised a cry, whereupon the
neighbours came, and both the thief and the demon ran way; and the life
and property of the Holy Man remained safe and secure through the
quarrel of his enemies.

When the two hostile armies fall to strife,
Then from its sheath what need to draw the knife?



The King and the Hawk

It is related that in ancient times there was a King fond of hunting.
He was ever giving reins to the courser of his desire in the pursuit of
game, and was always casting the lasso of gladness over the neck of
sport. Now this King had a Hawk, who at a single flight could bring
down a pebble from the peak of the Caucasus, and in terror of whose
claws the constellation Aquila kept himself in the green nest of the
sky; and the King had a prodigious fondness for this Hawk and always
cared for it with his own hands.

It happened one day that the Monarch, holding the Hawk on his hand, had
gone to the chase. A stag leapt up before him and he galloped after it