XXXVIII.
THE CRANE AND THE SWAN.
In days long gone by there lived on the banks of the Krishna, a crane on a silk-cotton tree. Once upon a time it beckoned a swan passing by and said:—"Your body resembles mine in colour, but your beak and legs are red. I have not come across a bird of your kind till now. Who are you? What is your errand?"
Whereupon the swan gave the following answer:—"I am a swan, I am an inhabitant of Brahma's Manasasaras. I am coming thence."
The crane then asked what things were procurable there and what formed the chief article of its food. To which the swan replied:—"As these things are made by angelic hands, it is beyond my comprehension to describe the grandeur of the place; but you may hear some of the important things procurable. In and around that region are found golden earth, ambrosia, gold lotuses, heaps of pearls, clouds of perfumes, and the tree of paradise. Every object thereof is a wonder." When the swan informed the crape that it partook of the buds of such lotuses, the latter impatiently asked the former if any oysters were procurable there. On receiving a reply in the negative, the latter burst into a fit of laughter and said;—"Why prattle of the excellences of a place void of oysters? It is a pity you do not know the excellences of oysters." Thus the crane put the swan to shame.
Moral:—People will talk big about the meanest things if they like them, and disparagingly of the best things if they do not like them.