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A Labourer's little son was bitten by a Snake and died of the

wound. The father was beside himself with grief, and in his anger

against the Snake he caught up an axe and went and stood close to

the Snake's hole, and watched for a chance of killing it.

Presently the Snake came out, and the man aimed a blow at it, but

only succeeded in cutting off the tip of its tail before it

wriggled in again. He then tried to get it to come out a second

time, pretending that he wished to make up the quarrel. But the

Snake said, "I can never be your friend because of my lost tail,

nor you mine because of your lost child."

Injuries are never forgotten in the presence of those who caused

them.

THE CAGE-BIRD AND THE BAT