BOOK III
CROWS AND OWLS
Here, then, begins Book III, called "Crows and Owls," which treats of peace, war, and so forth. The first verse runs:
Reconciled although he be,
Never trust an enemy.
For the cave of owls was burned,
When the crows with fire returned.
"How was that?" asked the princes, and Vishnusharman told the following story.
In the southern country is a city called Earth-Base. Near it stands a great banyan tree with countless branches. And in the tree dwelt a crow-king named Cloudy with a countless retinue of crows. There he made his habitation and spent his time.
Now a rival king, a great owl named Foe-Crusher, had his fortress and his habitation in a mountain cave, and he had an unnumbered retinue of owls. This owl-king cherished a grudge, so that whenever he met a crow in his airings, he killed him and passed on. In this way his constant aggression gradually spread rings of dead crows about the banyan tree. Nor is this surprising. For the proverb says:
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