ears just as much as you, and hears the abuse and evil words spoken by others; but its belly does not know rest, and is happy to bear the abuse of others."
"And you, Eye, making yourself to be senior! Every living thing sees the darkness and the light; but the belly does not observe, for the eye looks upon the good and the evil."
"And you, Mouth, also, making yourself to be senior! The pig, too, has a mouth the same as you, but its belly is happy in doing evil, and devours that which it had vomited."
"And you, Hand, also, making yourself to be senior! The crab has hands just as much as you, but its belly has no thought, so its hands can do nothing of themselves, either separately or altogether."
"And as for you, Foot, making yourself to be senior! You see that the ox has feet just as much as you; but its belly is foolish, and so it is made a treader of rice-fields and a breaker up of clods.[1] So this is what I declare to you: Don't dispute any more about seniority, for it is I alone who am the eldest, because it is I, the belly, who am the thinker and observer, and receptacle for the food which is to strengthen you all."
So they all humbled themselves to be juniors, and the belly only was agreed to as the eldest; and they gathered together there all the emotions expressed in such phrases as "My heart is troubled," "My liver is troubled," "My bowels are troubled," "My belly is troubled," &c.
The meaning of this amusing fable will be clearer if it is remembered that the Malagasy use the word for belly (kibo) in a very wide sense, as including heart, bowels, liver, womb, stomach, &c.; and that in these organs they (like Orientals generally) place the seat of the emotions and feelings, and the intelligence also. The similarity of the main idea of the fable to that of Esop's "The Belly and the Members" is obvious, an idea which is probably found in almost every nation, as is also seen in its very full use as an illustration by St. Paul in 1 Cor. xii. 12-25. It will be noticed that seniority is equivalent among the Malagasy to headship or lordship.
- ↑ Oxen are driven about on the soft mud of the rice-fields, over which water has been allowed to flow, after they have been dug up by the spade.
