that,' continued Karataka, 'is why I say, Let the prime minister look to
him. The hunting for prey is our duty--let us stick to it, then. And
this,' he said, with a meditative look, 'need not trouble us to-day; for
we have a capital dish of the royal leavings.'

'What!' said Damanaka, rough with rage, 'dost thou serve the King for
the sake of thy belly? Why take any such trouble to preserve an
existence like thine?--

'Many prayers for him are uttered whereon many a life relies;
'Tis but one poor fool the fewer when the gulping Raven dies.'

For assisting friends, and defeating enemies also, the service of kings
is desirable. To enter upon it for a mere living makes the thing low
indeed. There must be dogs and elephants; but servants need not be like
hungry curs, while their masters are noble. What say the books?

'Give thy Dog the merest mouthful, and he crouches at thy feet,
Wags his tail, and fawns, and grovels, in his eagerness to eat;
Bid the Elephant be feeding, and the best of fodder bring;
Gravely--after much entreaty--condescends that mighty king.'

'Well, well!' said Karataka; 'the books are nothing to us, who are not
councillors.'

'But we may come to be,' replied Damanaka; 'men rise, not by chance or
nature, but by exertions--

'By their own deeds men go downward, by them men mount upward all,
Like the diggers of a well, and like the builders of a wall.'