He is about to give way, when he hears other animals rebuking him for his weakness. They know how to rule their wives; why should not he? A judicious application of the stick cures the wife of her curiosity.
Such are the main outlines of the story, and one may be pretty confident that it was only invented once. The chief variation occurs with regard to the species of animal that gives the advice by which the man extricates himself from his difficulties. In the Hebrew and in the Arabian Nights, as well as in all the European versions, the Counsellor is a Cock, who points out that, if he can rule a hundred hens, he does not see why the man cannot overcome a single wife. In two of the Indian versions, and in the Annamite Story, it is an Ant who gives the advice. It is probable that Mohammed knew this version, and refers to it in the Koran in the Sura entitled Ant. (Vulgate 27, Nöldeke-Rodwell, 68). Finally, the Tamul, Jaina, and Turkish versions, given by Benfey, and a further Indian version, which Mr. Fraser quotes from Bastian, make the Counsellor a He-goat. This criterion would give us three lines of derivation from the
