'
"So came I to the forest, where, by good fortune and this good friend, I
met much kindness; and by the same good fortune have encountered you,
Sir, whose friendliness is as Heaven to me. Ah! Sir Tortoise,
'Poisonous though the tree of life be, two fair blossoms grow thereon:
One, the company of good men; and sweet songs of Poet's, one.'
"King!" said Slow-toes, "your error was getting too much, without
giving. Give, says the sage--
'Give, and it shall swell thy getting; give, and thou shalt safer keep:
Pierce the tank-wall; or it yieldeth, when the water waxes deep.'
And he is very hard upon money-grubbing: as thus--
'When the miser hides his treasure in the earth, he doeth well;
For he opens up a passage that his soul may sink to hell,'
And thus--
'He whose coins are kept for counting, not to barter nor to give,
Breathe he like a blacksmith's bellows, yet in truth he doth not live.'
It hath been well written, indeed,
'Gifts, bestowed with words of kindness, making giving doubly dear:--
Wisdom, deep, complete, benignant, of all arrogancy clear;
Valor, never yet forgetful of sweet Mercy's pleading prayer;
Wealth, and scorn of wealth to spend it--oh! but these be virtues
rare!'
"Frugal one may be," continued Slow-toes; "but not a niggard like the
Jackal--
'The Jackal-knave, that starved his spirit so,
And died of saving, by a broken bow.
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