"
'Speak!' said the King, with much graciousness.
'Your Majesty,' said the Jackal, 'this Bull has been detected of
treason. To my face he has spoken contemptuously of the three
prerogatives of the throne,[14] unto which he aspires.'
"At these words King Tawny-hide stood aghast.
'Your Majesty,' continued Damanaka, 'has placed him above us all in the
Court. Sire! he must be displaced!--
'Teeth grown loose, and wicked-hearted ministers, and poison-trees,
Pluck them by the roots together; 'Tis the thing that giveth ease,'
'Good Jackal,' said the King, after some silence; 'this is indeed
dreadful; but my regard for the Bull is very great, and it is said--
'Long-tried friends are friends to cleave to--never leave thou these
i' the lurch:--
What man shuns the fire as sinful for that once it burned a church?'
'That is written of discarding old servants, may it please your
Majesty,' observed Damanaka; 'and this Bull is quite a stranger,'
'Wondrous strange!' replied the Lion; 'when I have advanced and
protected him that he should plot against me!'
'Your Majesty,' said the Jackal, 'knows what has been written--
'Raise an evil soul to honor, and his evil bents remain;
Bind a cur's tail ne'er so straightly, yet it curleth up again.
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