The Good Book (8 page)

  3. So the fox counselled himself, saying, ‘The sages teach that if one comes to slay you, slay him first.’ And he resolved to remove the leopard, leading him into the ways of death to be rid of him.

  4. Next day the fox went to the leopard and said, ‘I have seen a place of gardens and lilies, where deer disport themselves in innocence, unwitting of danger;

  5. ‘Fawn and doe, and buck alike; handsome and well-grazed with fat flanks and shining coats; easy prey and good eating for such as you.’

  6. The leopard was delighted by this picture, and accompanied the fox to the place that the latter had described, smiling with anticipation. The fox said to himself, ‘Ah, how many a smile ends in tears!’

  7. When the leopard had seen the paradise, he said to the fox, ‘I must go and tell my wife, and bring her here; how happy she will be to know of it.’

  8. But the fox was dismayed by this, for he knew that the leopard’s wife had much wisdom, and would suspect the design that lay behind all he had planned.

  9. So he said to the leopard, ‘Do not trust your wife’s judgement in this. Having once built their homes wives do not like to leave them, even if there are better places to live,

10. ‘For they are attached by emotion, not reason, to the den where they raised their young. Hear what she says, but do the opposite.’

11. And indeed when the leopard told his wife, she did not want to move to the garden of lilies with its unsuspecting herds of deer, all the less so because her husband had been shown the garden by the fox.

12. ‘Beware of the fox,’ she told her husband. ‘There are two creatures one cannot trust, because they are crafty: the serpent and the fox. Did you not hear how the fox tricked the lion and killed him with cunning?’

13. ‘How could a fox dare to do such a thing,’ asked the leopard, ‘and kill a lion, so much more powerful than he?’

14.   So the leopard’s wife told him the following tale.

Chapter 4

  1. The lion loved the fox, but the fox mistrusted the lion because he feared that if famine came into the land, the lion would not hesitate to eat him.

  2. One day therefore the fox went to the lion complaining of a terrible headache and asking for his help;

  3. And when the lion asked what he could do to help, the fox said, ‘There is a sovereign remedy that the physicians prescribe, and I know what it is.’

  4. ‘Tell me,’ said the lion, ‘for I do not like to see you suffer; and if you can teach me to administer the remedy, then I beg you to do so.’

  5. The fox replied, ‘The treatment involves tying the patient hand and foot, and binding him tightly so that for a time he cannot move. Here is a cord; please do this to me.’

  6. ‘Then I shall do it, my friend,’ cried the lion, ‘to relieve you from this affliction.’ And he bound the fox, who after a few moments said, ‘Ah! The pain has gone! You have cured me!’

  7. The lion released him, and rejoiced to see him better; and the two continued as friends for a time after.

  8. But then the lion fell victim to the headache, and suffered grievously; and went to the fox to ask for his help.

  9. ‘Remember how I cured your headache,’ the lion asked, nursing his head, ‘by tying you up? I ask you to do the same to me, for I suffer now as you did then.’

10. So the fox took bonds, and cast them round the feet of the lion, and tied him up tightly; and when he was bound, he went and fetched great stones, and hurled them on the lion’s head to kill him; and by this trick and treachery ended the lion’s life.

11. ‘I urge you’, said the leopardess, ‘to think of this, and take warning of the fox’s craftiness; for you should ask yourself, “Why has he shown me so sovereign a place, where he himself might take profit in your place?”’

12. The leopard did not wish to take his wife’s advice, but at the same time her words had stirred a doubt in him. He told the fox that his wife did not wish to accompany him, and that his own feelings misgave him;

13. Whereupon the fox said, ‘If you are guided by your wife in this, your fate will be like that of the silversmith. Do you know that story?’

14. And so he told the following story to the leopard.

Chapter 5

  1. In ancient times, said the fox, there lived a very skilful silversmith, who made beautiful settings for gemstones,

  2. But he worked very slowly, so that although his reputation was great, his wealth was small.

  3. One day his wife said to him, ‘We have not grown rich even though you are so good at your craft.

  4. ‘But I have a plan; and if you will listen to me I will make us the wealthiest residents of this city.’

  5. So the silversmith put down his tools to listen to his wife, who spoke as follows.

  6. ‘Our lord the king has a new wife, very young and beautiful, and he dotes on her. Make a silver image of her, and I will take it to the palace as a gift.

  7. ‘We will be rewarded with far more than the value of the silver, and your fame will bring people from far away, who will pay twice for what you make.’

  8. But the wife had not reckoned with the jealousy of the king, who could not abide the thought that another would dwell on his wife’s beauty, and make an image of it;

  9. So that when the silversmith’s wife presented the silver statuette at the palace, he was enraged, and ordered the silversmith’s arrest;

10. And when the silversmith was brought before him, the king ordered his right hand to be cut off, so that he could no longer work at his trade.

11. Every day thereafter the silversmith wept, until he and his wife at last died of hunger.

12. ‘This tale’, said the fox, ‘teaches us never to listen to our wives’ advice in matters of livelihood.’

13. The leopard shuddered to hear this tale; but the fox continued to press home the advantage he saw that he was gaining.

14. ‘Have you not heard,’ he asked, ‘what the great Socrates said when asked why he had married a wife so short and thin? “In order to have of evil the least amount,” he replied.

15. ‘Have you heard what he said on seeing a woman hanging from a tree? “Would that all trees bore such fruit.”

16. ‘Have you heard what he replied when one said to him, “Your enemy is dead”? He replied, “I would rather hear that he was married.”

17. With these ill tales and false reports the fox steeled the leopard against his wife,

18. And the leopard commanded his wife with anger to bring the cubs to the paradise of fatted deer and green meadows; and there they camped by the water.

19. The fox bade them farewell, his head laughing at his tail.

20. Seven days passed, and in the deep night of the eighth day the waters rose in a customary flood of the place, and engulfed the leopard family where they lay.

21. Even as the leopard struggled under the water of the flood he lamented, ‘Woe is me that I did not listen to my wife,’ and he and all his family died before their time.

Chapter 6

  1. After hearing Charicles tell these stories the stranger said, ‘I have shared my bread and cheese and ruby-red wine with you, that I grew in my own vineyard;

  2. ‘From these tokens of friendship you can see I am no fox who seeks to do you harm. I understand your reluctance;

  3. ‘But if you wish to learn something new, and to profit from opportunity, you must have courage, and take a risk.’

  4. So with reluctance, but persuaded by the stranger’s words, Charicles agreed to accompany him, and they started out together, riding on asses.

  5. The stranger said to Charicles, ‘Carry me, or I will carry you.’ Charicles said, ‘What do you mean? We are both riding on an ass. Why should either of us carry the other? Explain your words.’

  6. The stranger replied, ‘The explanation is given in the story of the peasant’s daughter and the sage.’ And he told Charicles the tale, as follows.

  7. There was once a king with an extensive harem of wives and concubines. One night he dreamed that he saw a monkey among his women, and woke with a start.

  8. He was very troubled, and thought, ‘This is none other than a foreign king who will conquer my realm and take my harem for his prize.’

  9. The king called one of his sages and asked him to find out what his ominous dream meant.

10. The sage set out on a mule, and rode into the countryside, where after a while he met an elderly peasant, also on a mule, travelling in the same direction.

11. He said to the peasant, ‘Let us travel together,’ and the peasant agreed. And as they set forward the sage said, ‘Carry me, or I will carry you.’

12. ‘But our mules carry us both,’ said the peasant, amazed. ‘What do you mean?’

13. ‘You are a tiller of the earth, and you eat earth,’ said the sage. ‘And there is snow on the hills.’

14. Because it was the height of summer, the peasant laughed at this, and began to think the sage a madman.

15. They passed through the midst of a wheat field, with wheat growing on each side. ‘A one-eyed horse has passed here,’ said the sage, ‘loaded with oil on one side and vinegar on the other.’

16. They saw a field rich in abounding corn, and the peasant praised it; ‘Yes,’ said the sage, ‘such a field is to be praised until the corn is eaten.’

17. They went on a little further and saw a lofty tower. ‘That tower is well fortified,’ said the peasant. ‘Yes,’ said the sage, ‘fortified without, if it is not ruined within.’

18. As they rode they passed a funeral. ‘I cannot tell whether the man in the coffin is alive or dead,’ said the sage.

19. The peasant was now convinced that the sage must be mad, to say such unintelligible things.

20. They arrived at the village where the peasant lived, and he invited the sage to pass the night with him and his family.

Chapter 7

  1. In the dead of night the peasant told his wife and daughter of the foolish things the sage had said.

  2. ‘No,’ said the daughter, ‘they were not foolish things; you did not understand the depth of his meaning.

  3. ‘“Carry me, or I will carry you” signifies that he who beguiles the way with stories, proverbs, riddles and songs, will make the journey light for his companion.

  4. ‘The tiller of the earth eats food grown from the earth. The snow on the hill is the white hairs on your head, father; you should have replied, “Time caused it.”

  5. ‘He knew that a one-eyed horse had passed, because the wheat was eaten on one side of the path only.

  6. ‘And he knew what the horse carried, for the vinegar had parched the dust where it spilled, but the oil had not.

  7. ‘The corn of the field you passed would already have been eaten if its owner was poor. The lofty tower was not well fortified if there were division or argument among those within.

  8. ‘And as for the funeral: the dead man lived, if he had children; but was truly dead, if he left no progeny behind.’

  9. At this the peasant and his wife marvelled, and understood; and unbeknown to them the sage, who was not sleeping as they thought, heard the daughter’s words.

10. In the morning the daughter asked her father to give the sage some food she had prepared.

11. She gave her father thirty eggs, a dish of milk, and a whole loaf of bread, bade him eat and drink his fill, then take the remainder to the sage.

12. ‘Ask him when you give him the remainder,’ she said, ‘how many days old the month is; ask him, is the moon new, and is the sun at its zenith?’

13. The peasant ate two eggs, a little of the loaf, and sipped some of the milk, then carried the rest to the sage and gave it to him.

14. When he returned to his daughter he laughed, and said, ‘Surely the man is a fool; for it is the mid-month and the moon is full;

15. ‘But when I gave him the remainder of the food, he said, “The sun is not full, neither is the moon, for the month is two days old.”

16. ‘Now I know for certain that the man is wise,’ said the daughter, and she went to the sage and said, ‘You are seeking something: tell me what it is and I will answer you.’

17. So the sage told her of the king’s dream, and the daughter answered, ‘I know the answer. But you must take me to the king himself so that I can tell him.’

18. When the sage and the peasant’s daughter came before the king, she said, ‘Search your harem; you will find among the women a man disguised as one of them,

19. ‘For he is the lover of one of the women, and hides among them to be with her.’

20. The king’s guards searched and found that it was true; and brought the offenders before the king. He said to the peasant’s daughter,

21. ‘Before I punish them, I wish to know what gift I can give you to express my thanks: ask what you will, and if it is agreeable to me, you shall have it.’

22. The peasant’s daughter said, ‘I ask two things. First, these two have transgressed because of love. I ask you to let them go, for can love ever be a crime that should be punished as other crimes?’