and the lion
sat in his place gravely, with calm, receiving homage of the other
beasts; and down to his feet came the eagle that's lord of air, and
before him kneeled the great elephant, and the subtle serpent eyed him
with awe. But soon did that monkey, the wretched animal! reappear, and
there was no peace for the lion, he worrying till close within stretch of
the lion's paw! Wah! the lion might have crushed him, but that he's
magnanimous. And so it was that as the monkey advanced the lion roared to
him, "Begone!"

'And the monkey cried, "Who commandeth?"

'So the lion roared, "The King of beasts and thy King!"

'Then that monkey cried, "Homage to the King of beasts and my King! Allah
keep him in his seat, and I would he were visible."

'So the lion roared, "He sitteth here acknowledged, thou graceless
animal! and he's before thee apparent."

'Then the monkey affected eagerness, and gazed about him, and peered on
this beast and on that, exclaiming like one that's injured and under
slight, "What's this I've done, and wherein have I offended, that he
should be hidden from me when pointed out?"

'So the lion roared, "'Tis I where I sit, thou offensive monkey!"

'Then that monkey in the upper pitch of amazement, "Thou! Is it for
created thing to acknowledge a king without a tail? And, O beasts of the
forest and the wilderness, how say ye? Am I to blame that I bow not to
one that hath it not?"

'Upon that, the lion rose, and roared in the extreme of wrath; but the
word he was about to utter was checked in him, for 'twas manifest that
where he would have lashed a tail he shook a stump, wagging it as the dog
doth. Lo! when the lion saw that, the majesty melted from him, and in a
moment the plumpness of content and prosperity forsook him, so that his
tawny skin hung flabbily and his jaw drooped, and shame deprived him of
stateliness; abashed was he! Now, seeing the lion shamed in this manner,
my heart beat violently for Shagpat, so that I awoke with the strength of
its beating, and 'twas hidden from me whether the monkey was punished by
the lion, or exalted by the other beasts in his place, or how came it
that the lion's tail was lost, witched from him by that villain of
mischief, the monkey; but, O great Genie, I knew there was a lion among
men, reverenced, and with enemies; that lion, he that espoused me and my
glory, Shagpat! 'Twas enough to know that and tremble at the omen of my
dream, O Genie. Wherefore I though