Brother Bullock, does it seem to you a fair thing
that this Tiger should eat me up, after I have just freed him from a
cage?"
The Bullock looked up, and answered in a deep, grumbling voice,--
"When I was young and strong my master used me hard, and I served him
well. I carried heavy loads and carried them far. Now that I am old
and weak and cannot work, he leaves me without food or water, to die by
the wayside. Men are a thankless lot. Let the Tiger eat the Brahmin."
The Tiger sprang, but the Brahmin spoke very quickly:--
"Oh, but this is only the second, Brother Tiger; you promised to ask
five."
The Tiger grumbled a good deal, but at last he went on again with the
Brahmin. And after a time they saw an Eagle, high overhead. The
Brahmin called up to him imploringly,--
"Oh, Brother Eagle, Brother Eagle! Tell us if it seems to you fair that
this Tiger should eat me up, when I have just saved him from a
frightful cage?"
The Eagle soared slowly overhead a moment, then he came lower, and
spoke in a thin, clear voice.
"I live high in the air," he said, "and I do no man any harm. Yet as
often as they find my eyrie, men stone my young and rob my nest and
shoot at me with arrows. Men are a cruel breed. Let the Tiger eat the
Brahmin!"
The Tiger sprang upon the Brahmin, to eat him up; and this time the
Brahmin had very hard work to persuade him to wait. At last he did
persuade him, however, and they walked on together. And in a little
while they saw an old Alligator, lying half buried in mud and slime, at
the river's edge.
"Brother Alligator, oh, Brother Alligator!" said the Brahmin, "does it
seem at all right or fair to you that this Tiger should eat me up, when
I have just now let him out of a cage?"
The old Alligator turned in the mud, and grunted, and snorted; then he
said,
"I lie here in the mud all day, as harmless as a pigeon; I hunt no man,
yet every time a man sees me, he throws stones at me, and pokes me with
sharp sticks, and jeers at me. Men are a worthless lot. Let the Tiger
eat the Brahmin!"
At this the Tiger was bound to eat the Brahmin at once. The poor
Brahmin had to remind him, again and again, that they had asked only
four.
"Wait till we've asked one more! Wait until we see a fifth!" he begged.
Finally, the Tiger walked on with him.
After a time, they met the little Jackal, coming gayly down the road
toward them.
"Oh, Brother Jackal, dear Brother Jackal," sai
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