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behoves thee to keep the vows thou hast made, and I will be thy friend.’ ‘What is it thou hast to propose?’ asked the wolf. ‘It is,’ answered the fox, ‘that thou stand up, and I will climb up on to thy head and so bring myself nigh on a level with the surface of the earth. Then will I give a spring and as soon as I reach the ground, I will fetch thee what thou mayst lay hold of and make thine escape.’ ‘I have no faith in thy word,’ rejoined the wolf, ‘for the wise have said, “He who practises trust in the place of hate, errs,” and “He who trusts in the faithless is a dupe; he who tries those that have been [already] tried (and found wanting) shall reap repentance and his days shall pass away without profit; and he who cannot distinguish between cases, giving each its due part, his good fortune will be small and his afflictions many.” How well saith the poet:
Be thy thought ever ill and of all men beware; Suspicion of good parts the helpfullest was e’er.
For nothing brings a man to peril and distress As doth the doing good (to men) and thinking fair.
And another:
Be constant ever in suspect; ’twill save thee aye anew; For he who lives a wakeful life, his troubles are but few.
Meet thou the foeman in thy way with open, smiling face; But in thy heart set up a host shall battle with him do.
And yet another:
Thy worst of foes is thy nearest friend, in whom thou puttest trust; So look thou be on thy guard with men and use them warily aye.
’Tis weakness to augur well of fate; think rather ill of it And be in fear of its shifts and tricks, lest it should thee bewray.’
‘Verily,’ said the fox, ‘distrust is not to be commended in every case; on the contrary, a confiding disposition is the characteristic of a noble nature and its issue is freedom from terrors. Now it behoves thee, O wolf, to put in practice some device for thy deliverance from this thou art in
