THE KURAL
1066. Even if what thou beggest is only water for the cow, nothing is so humiliating to the tongue to utter as a begging prayer.
1067. Of all that beg I shall beg but this one thing : If ye needs must beg, beg not of those that shirk.
1068. The hapless ship called begging will split the moment that it striketh the rock of dodging.
1069. The heart melteth even when it contemplateth the lot of the beggar : but when it thinketh on the rebuffs that he receiveth, it simply dieth away.
1070. Where doth the life of the dodger hide itself when he sayeth nay? At the the mere sound of his rebuff the life of the beggar ebbeth away ![1]
- ↑ The fancy is that the rebuff of the dodger kills the beggar; if its virulence is so great, it should kill the dodger himself who nurses it in his bosom.
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