"But this is senseless," said the crow. "Listen to me.
For cause a man becomes a friend;
For cause grows hostile. So
The prudent make a friend of him,
And never make a foe."
"But," said Gold, "what commerce can there be between you and me? Listen to the kernel of social ethics:
Whoever trusts a faithless friend
And twice in him believes,
Lays hold on death as certainly
As when a mule conceives.
And again:
A lion took the life of Panini,
Grammar's most famous name;
A tusker madly crushed sage Jaimini
Of metaphysic fame;
And Pingal, metric's boast, was slaughtered by
A seaside crocodile—
What sense for scholarly attainments high
Have beasts besotted, vile?"
"True enough," said the crow. "But listen to this:
The beasts and birds as friends are won
For cause; plain folks, for service done
And silly souls, for greed or fright—
But good men are your friends at sight.
And again:
Like pots of clay, the wicked friend
Is quick to smash and hard to mend:
Like pots of gold the righteous flash,
As quick to mend, as hard to smash.
