for he was a judge of occasions. And Swift, after depositing Gold in a hole in a tree on the bank, perched on the tip of a twig and called in a piercing tone: "Friend Slow! Come here! I am your crow friend. After long absence I have come, my heart filled with longing. Come, embrace me. For the saying runs:
Bring sandalwood or camphor? No!
Nor even flakes of cooling snow;
All are not worth the sixteenth part
Of rest upon a friendly heart."
When he heard this, Slow made a narrow inspection, then, with a quiver of delight and with eyes swimming in joyful tears, he hurriedly scrambled from the water, saying: "I did not know you. I am much to blame. Forgive me." And when Swift flew down from the tree, he embraced him.
So the two, after exchanging embraces, thrilled with delight, and sitting beneath the tree told each other their adventures during the long separation. Gold also, with a bow to Slow, sat down there. And Slow, spying him, said to Swift: "Tell me, who is this mouse? And why did you mount him, your natural food, on your back and bring him hither?"
And Swift replied: "Ah, he is a mouse named Gold, a friend of mine, almost my second life. To make a short story of it:
His virtues, like the streams of rain
Or stars that dot the sky
Or like the grains of dust on earth
All numbering defy;
