'Who is it?' said the Vulture.

'I am a Cat,'

'Be off, Cat, or I shall slay thee,' said the Vulture.

'I am ready to die if I deserve death,' answered the Cat; 'but let what
I have to say be heard,'

'Wherefore, then, comest thou?' said the Vulture.

'I live,' began Long-ear, 'on the Ganges, bathing, and eating no flesh,
practising the moon-penance,[8] like a Bramacharya. The birds that
resort thither constantly praise your worship to me as one wholly given
to the study of morality, and worthy of all trust; and so I came here to
learn law from thee, Sir, who art so deep gone in learning and in years.
Dost thou, then, so read the law of strangers as to be ready to slay a
guest? What say the books about the householder?--

'Bar thy door not to the stranger, be he friend or be he foe,
For the tree will shade the woodman while his axe doth lay it low,'

And if means fail, what there is should be given with kind words, as--

'Greeting fair, and room to rest in; fire, and water from the well--
Simple gifts--are given freely in the house where good men dwell,'--

and without respect of person--

'Young, or bent with many winters; rich, or poor, whate'er thy guest,