There was a city in a certain region. In a grove near by, a merchant was having a temple built. Each day at the noon hour the foreman and workers would go to the city for lunch.

Now one day a troop of monkeys came upon the half-built temple. There lay a tremendous anjana-log, which a mechanic had begun to split, a wedge of acacia-wood being thrust in at the top.

There the monkeys began their playful frolics upon tree-top, lofty roof, and woodpile. Then one of them, whose doom was near, thoughtlessly bestrode the log, thinking: “Who stuck a wedge in this queer place?” So he seized it with both hands and started to work it loose. Now what happened when the wedge gave at the spot where his private parts entered the cleft, that, sir, you know without being told.

“And that is why I say that meddling should be avoided by the intelligent. And you know,” he continued, “that we two pick up a fair living just from his leavings.”

“But,” said Victor, “how can you give first-rate service merely from a desire for food with no desire for distinction? There is wisdom in the saying:

In hurting foes and elping friends

The wise perceive the proper ends

Of serving kings. The belly’s call

To answer, is no job at all.

And again:

When many Jives on one depend,

Then life is life indeed:

A crow, with beak equipped, can fill

His belly’s selfish need.

If loving kindness be not shown

To friends and souls in pain,

To teachers, servants, and one’s self,

What use in life, what gain?

A crow will live for many years

And eat the offered grain.

A dog is quite contented if

He gets a meatless bone,

A dirty thing with gristle-strings

And marrow-fat alone—

And not enough of it at that

To still his belly’s moan.

The lion scorns the jackal, though

Between his paws, to smite

The elephant. For everyone,

However sad his plight,

Demands the recompense that he

Esteems his native right.

Dogs wag their tails and fawn and roll,

Bare mouth and belly, at your feet:

Bull-elephants show self-esteem,

Demand much coaxing ere they eat.

A tiny rill

Is quick to fill,

And quick a mouse’s paws:

So seedy men Are grateful, when

There is but little cause.

For if there be no mind

Debating good and ill,

And if religion send

No challenge to the will,

If only greed be there

For some material feast,

How draw a line between

The man-beast and the beast?

Or more accurately yet:

Since cattle draw the plow

Through rough and level soil,

And bend their patient necks

To heavy wagons’ toil,

Are kind, of sinless birth,

And find in grass a feast,

How can they be compared

With any human beast?”

“But at present,” said Cheek, “we two hold no job at court. So why meddle?” “My dear fellow,” said Victor, “after a little the jobless man does hold a