' Then the King departed, and presently saw
Vira-vara return, and take up again his station as before at the
palace-gate.
'Ho! there, Vira-vara!' cried the King, 'what meant the weeping?'
'Let your Majesty rest well!' answered the Rajpoot, 'it was a woman who
wept, and disappeared on my approach.' This answer completed the Rajah's
astonishment and delight; for we know--
'He is brave whose tongue is silent of the trophies of his sword;
He is great whose quiet bearing marks his greatness well assured.'
So when the day was come, he called a full council, and, declaring
therein all the events of the night, he invested the faithful guard with
the sovereignty of the Carnatic.
"Thus, then," concluded King Silver-sides, "in entertaining strangers a
man may add to his friends."
"It may well be," replied the Goose; "but a Minister should advise what
is expedient, and not what is pleasing in sentiment:--
'When the Priest, the Leech, the Vizir of a King his flatterers be,
Very soon the King will part with health, and wealth, and piety.'
'Let it pass, then,' said Silver-sides, 'and turn we to the matter in
hand.
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