A Remedy Worse than the Disease

A REMEDY WORSE THAN THE DISEASE

A flock of herons once had their nests on a fig tree in a part of a forest. In a hole in the tree lived a black snake who made a practice of eating the heron chicks before their wings sprouted.

At last one heron, in utter woe at seeing the young ones eaten by a snake, went to the shore of the pond, shed a flood of tears, and stood with downcast face. And a crab who noticed him in this attitude, said: "Uncle, why are you so tearful today?" "My good friend," said the heron, "what am I to do? Fate is against me. My babies and the youngsters belonging to my relatives have been eaten by a snake that lives in a hole in the fig tree. Grieved at their grief, I weep. Tell me, is there any possible device for killing him?"

On hearing this, the crab reflected: "After all, he is a natural-born enemy of my race. I will give him such advice—a kind of true lie—that other herons may also perish. For the proverb says:

Let your speech like butter be;Steel your heart remorselessly:

Stir an enemy to actionThat destroys him with his faction."

And he said aloud: "Uncle, conditions being as they are, scatter bits of fish all the way from the mungoose burrow to the snake's hole. The mungoose will follow that trail and will destroy the villainous snake."

When this had been done, the mungoose followed the bits of fish, killed the villainous snake, and also ate at his leisure all the herons who made their home in the tree.

"And that is why I say:

The good and bad of given schemes,. . . .

and the rest of it."

But Wrong-Mind disdained the paternal warning, and during the night he hid his father out of sight in the hole in the tree. When morning came, the scamp took a bath, put on clean garments, and followed Right-Mind and the magistrates to the mimosa tree, where he cried in piercing tones:

"Earth, heaven, and death, the feeling mind,Sun, moon, and water, fire and wind,Both twilights, justice, day and nightDiscern man's conduct, wrong or right.

O blessèd goddess of the wood, which of us two is the thief? Speak."

Then Wrong-Mind's father spoke from his hole in the mimosa: "Gentlemen, Right-Mind took that​money." And when all the king's men heard this statement, their eyes blossomed with astonishment, and they searched their minds to discover the appropriate legal penalty for stealing money, in order to visit it on Right-Mind.

Meanwhile Right-Mind heaped inflammable matter about the hole in the mimosa and set fire to it. As the mimosa burned, Wrong-Mind's father issued from the hole with a pitiful wail, his body scorched and his eyes popping out. And they all asked: "Why, sir! What does this mean?"

"It is all Wrong-Mind's doing," he replied. Whereupon the king's men hanged Wrong-Mind to a branch of the mimosa, while they commended Right-Mind and caused him satisfaction by conferring upon him the king's favor and other things.

"And that is why I say:

Right-mind was one, and Wrong-mind two,. . . .

and the rest of it."

After telling the story, Cheek continued: "Poor fool! By your oversubtle wisdom you have burned your own family. Yes, there is wisdom in the saying:

Rivers find their endingIn the salty sea;Household peace, as soon asWomen disagree;Secrets end that do notEvery traitor shun;Families are endedIn a wicked son.

Mouths of snake and scampBear a savage stamp;Rough and ruthless still,Only good for ill:Where the tongue is doubleYou may look for trouble.

"Consequently, your conduct makes me fearful for my own person. For

I would not trust a rascal;His ways I understand:The petted, pampered serpentWill bite the feeding hand.

A fire will burn, though kindledIn fragrant sandalwood:A rascal is a rascal,Although his birth is good.

"After all, this is the very nature of rascals. As the proverb says:

Each self-advertising traitor,Skilful as calumniator,Fate condemns to ruin allWho within his clutches fall.Oh, any tongue in human mouthThat lends itself to slander's cantYet does not split a hundred times,Is surely made of adamant.

Oh, may no evil e'er befallThe lion-man who loves his kind,Who practices a silent vowWhen others' faults are in his mind.

"Ah, one must use great circumspection in making acquaintances. As the proverb says:

With the shrewd and upright manSeek a friendship rare;Exercise with shrewd and falseSuperheedful care;Pity for the upright foolFind within your heart;If a man be fool and false,Shun him from the start.

"Yes, your efforts have tended to the destruction not only of your own family, but, toward the last, of the master too. Since you reduce your own master to this state, other persons mean no more to you than withered grass. As the saying goes:

Where mice eat balance-beams of ironA thousandpalsin weightA hawk might steal an elephant;A boy is trifling freight."

"How was that?" asked Victor. And Cheek told the story of

THE MICE THAT ATE IRON