But when the chamberlains and the eunuchs saw the theft, they picked up clubs and ran in pursuit. Meanwhile, the crow-hen dropped the golden chain in the snake's hole and waited at a safe distance.
Now when the king's men climbed the tree, they found a hole and in it a black snake with swelling hood. So they killed him with their clubs, recovered the golden chain, and went their way. Thereafter the crow and his wife lived in peace.
"And that is why I say:
In cases where brute force would fail, . . . .
and the rest of it. Furthermore:
Some men permit a petty foe
Through purblind heedlessness to grow,
Till he who played a petty rôle
Grows, like disease, beyond control.
Indeed, there is nothing in the world that the intelligent cannot control. As the saying goes:
Intelligence is power. But where
Could power and folly make a pair?
The rabbit played upon his pride
To fool him; and the lion died."
"How was that?" asked Cheek. And Victor told the story of
NUMSKULL AND THE RABBIT
In a part of a forest was a lion drunk with pride, and his name was Numskull. He slaughtered the
