him with soft conciliation, and get him out of the house? Or shall I try intrigue? Or bribery? Ah, here is my monkey friend. I will ask him. For the proverb says:
Ask aid of kindly teachers, man,
The kind you ought to ask.
Their counsel leads to sure success,
Whatever be your task."
After these reflections, he put the question to the monkey, who had climbed back into the rose-apple tree. "Oh, my friend," said he, "see how unlucky I am. For now my very house is seized and held by a powerful crocodile. Therefore I put it to you. Tell me, what am I to do? Is this the place for soft conciliation or one of the other three devices?"
But the monkey said: "You ungrateful wretch! Why do you still pursue me, though I asked you not to? You are a fool, therefore I will not even give you good advice. For the proverb says:
Give counsel only when it fits
To such as seek the best.
The foolish monkey broke to bits
The sparrow’s cozy nest."
"How was that?" asked the crocodile. And the monkey told the story of
THE PERT HEN-SPARROW
In a certain wood lived a sparrow and his wife who had built their nest on the branch of a tree
