When he heard this, Victor thought: "The fellow has sharp horns and plenty of vigor. He might perhaps strike down the master, if fate decreed it. That would not do, either. And the proverb says:
Even with heroes victory
Whimsically may alight.
Try three other methods first;
Only in extremis fight.
So I will use my wits to turn his thoughts from fighting." And he said: "My dear fellow, this is not a good plan, because
He loses fights who fights before
His foeman's power is reckoned:
The ocean and the plover fought,
And ocean came out second."
"How was that?" asked Lively. And Victor told the story of
THE PLOVER WHO FOUGHT THE OCEAN
A plover and his wife once lived by the shore of the sea, the mighty sea that swarms with fish, crocodiles, turtles, sharks, porpoises, pearl oysters, shellfish, and other teeming life. The plover was called Sprawl, and his wife's name was Constance.
In due time she became pregnant and was ready to lay her eggs. So she said to her husband: "Please find a spot where I may lay my eggs." "Why," said he, "this home of ours, inherited from our ancestors, promises progress. Lay your eggs here." "Oh," said
