Book IV (Loss of Gains) — The Pert Hen-Sparrow

In a certain wood lived a sparrow and his wife who had built their nest on the branch of a tree One day in the month of February a monkey took shelter under the tree; for he had been caught in an unseasonable hail-storm, and his body shivered to the slightest breeze. Since his teeth were making music and his face was woebegone and his hands and feet were tightly clenched, the hen-sparrow said to him compassionately:

With hands and feet of human plan, Almost you seem to be a man.

So, if you find the weather cool, Why not construct a house, you fool?

When the monkey heard this, he reflected: “Well, well, some people fancy themselves. Here is this paltry hen-sparrow who has a good opinion of her own judgment. The well-known saying is correct:

Of self-conceit all creatures show

An adequate supply:

The plover lies with claws upstretched To prop the falling sky.”

Thereupon he said to her:

You slut! You wench! You smarty! You needle-face! Be still,

Or I will spoil the party;

I will, I will, I will.

But she continued to ply him with excellent advice concerning the construction of a house, even after he had thus requested her not to do so. So he climbed the tree and destroyed her nest, breaking it to bits.

“And that is why I say:

Give counsel only when it fits, ... and the rest of it.”

Then the crocodile said: “Oh, my friend, I did wrong, but please remember our old friendship and give me good advice.”

“T will not tell you a thing,” said the monkey, “because you took your wife’s advice and carried me out to sea in order to drop me in. However much you love your wife, why throw friends, relatives, and such into the ocean just because she asks it?”

And the crocodile answered: “My dear fellow, it is all true. Yet consider the maxim, ‘Seven words make friendship,’ and give me a bit of good advice. For there is a saying:

Disaster cannot threaten

The man of sterling worth Who offers helpful counsel— In heaven, or on earth.

So, though I did you a wrong, I beg you to show forgiveness by giving good advice. You know the proverb:

And is there any saintlihood

In recompensing good with good? But worthy men go seeking still The saints returning good for ill.”

Then the monkey said: “Well, well, my good fellow, I advise you to go and fight him. For there is a saying:

Sway patrons with obeisance; In heroes raise a doubt;

Fling petty bribes to flunkeys; With equals, fight it out.”

“How was that?” asked the crocodile. And the monkey told