Hearing this, Gold hastened forth, and there was a civil greeting on both sides. After a moment Swift said to Gold: "I will not keep you longer outdoors. I am in search of food." With this he left his friend and flew into thick jungle where he found a wild buffalo that a tiger had killed. Of this he ate his fill, then returned to Gold, carrying a lump of meat red as a dhak-blossom. And he cried: "Come out, my dear Gold! Come out! Enjoy this meat that I have brought."
Now Gold, with sedulous forethought, had constructed a great heap of corn and rice for his friend's use. And he said: "My dear friend, pray enjoy this rice which I have provided to the best of my ability." So each was highly pleased with the other, and they ate in order to manifest kindly feeling. This, indeed, is the seed of friendship. As the verse puts it:
Six things are done by friends:
To take, and give again;
To listen, and to talk;
To dine, to entertain.
No friendship ever comes
Without some kindly deed:
The very gods respond
To gifts they have decreed.
As soon as presents cease,
So soon does friendship die:
The calf deserts the cow
Whose udder has gone dry.
