STORY OF THE HAWK AND THE LOCUST.



'There was once, of old time, a hawk who made himself a nest hard
by that of a locust, and the latter gloried in his neighbourhood
and betaking herself to him, saluted him and said, "O my lord and
chief of the birds, indeed the nearness unto thee delighteth me
and thou honourest me with thy neighbourhood and my soul is
fortified with thee." The hawk thanked her for this and there
ensued friendship between them. One day, the locust said to the
hawk, "O chief of the birds, how cometh it that I see thee alone,
solitary, having with thee no friend of thy kind of the birds, to
whom thou mayst incline in time of easance and of whom thou mayst
seek succour in time of stress? Indeed, it is said, 'Man goeth
about seeking the ease of his body and the preservation of his
strength, and in this there is nought more necessary to him than
a friend who shall be the completion of his gladness and the
mainstay of his life and on whom shall be his dependence in his
stress and in his ease.' Now I, albeit I ardently desire thy weal
in that which beseemeth thy condition, yet am I weak [and unable]
unto that which the soul craveth; but, if thou wilt give me
leave, I will seek out for thee one of the birds who shall be
conformable unto thee in thy body and thy strength." And the hawk
said, "I commit this to thee and rely upon thee therein."