Honor him for thine own honor--better is he than the best,'

Else comes the rebuke--

'Pity them that ask thy pity: who art thou to stint thy hoard,
When the holy moon shines equal on the leper and the lord!'

And that other, too,

'When thy gate is roughly fastened, and the asker turns away,
Thence he bears thy good deeds with him, and his sins on thee doth lay

For verily,

'In the house the husband ruleth, men the Brahmans "master" call;
Agni is the Twice-born Master--but the guest is lord of all,'

"To these weighty words Grey-pate answered,

'Yes! but cats like meat, and there are young birds here, and therefore
I said, go,'

'Sir,' said the Cat (and as he spoke he touched the ground, and then his
two ears, and called on Krishna to witness to his words), 'I that have
overcome passion, and practised the moon-penance, know the Scriptures;
and howsoever they contend, in this primal duty of abstaining from
injury they are unanimous. Which of them sayeth not--

'He who does and thinks no wrong--
He who suffers, being strong--