So the Brahman concluded that it was a goblin in quadruped form, threw it on the ground, and made for home, terrified. Meanwhile, the three rogues met, caught the goat, and carried out their plan.
"And that is why I say:
The strong, deft, clever rascals note, . . . .
and the rest of it.
"Moreover, there is sound sense in this:
Is any man uncheated by
New servants' diligence,
The praise of guests, the maiden's tears,
And roguish eloquence?
Furthermore, one should avoid a quarrel with a crowd, though the individuals be weak. As the verse puts it:
Beware the populace enraged;
A crowd's a fearsome thing:
The ants devoured the giant snake
For all his quivering."
"How was that?" asked Cloudy. And Live-Strong told the story of
THE SNAKE AND THE ANTS
In a certain ant-hill lived a prodigious black snake, and his name was Haughty. One day, instead of following the beaten path out of his hole, he tried to crawl through a narrower crevice. In doing so, he suffered a wound, because his body was huge, and the opening was small, and fate willed it so.
