A sliver draws a sliver out;
Just so the wise employ
Grim foes to slaughter foes; and thus
Turn danger into joy."
Having come to this conclusion, he went to the mouth of the hole and called: "Come out! Come out, Handsome! Come out!" But when the snake heard this, he thought: "Whoever he may be that is calling me, he does not belong to my race. That is no snake's voice. And I have no alliance with anyone else in the living world. So I will just stay here until I am sure who he may be. For the proverb says:
Until you have full information
Of prowess, character, and station,
To no man let your trust be given—
Such is the current saw in heaven.
Perhaps it is some conjurer or druggist who is calling me in order to put me in a cage. Or a man who bears a grudge and summons me in the interest of his friend."
So he said: "Who are you?" The other said: "I am a frog-king named Theodore, and I have come to make friends with you."
When the snake heard this, he said: "Why, it is incredible. Does grass make friends with fire? You know the proverb:
You do not, even in a dream,
Approach the kind of foe
Who kills at sight. What can you mean?
Why should you babble so?"
