"
"But," objected the camel, "that will be certain death to you!"
"Not quite," was the quiet answer, "it involves only the loss of my
camel."
So saying, he assassinated the beast, and appropriated his liquid
store.
A compromise is not always a settlement satisfactory to both parties.
XXI.
A sheep, making a long journey, found the heat of his fleece very
uncomfortable, and seeing a flock of other sheep in a fold, evidently
awaiting for some one, leaped over and joined them, in the hope of
being shorn. Perceiving the shepherd approaching, and the other sheep
huddling into a remote corner of the fold, he shouldered his way
forward, and going up to the shepherd, said:
"Did you ever see such a lot of fools? It's lucky I came along to set
them an example of docility. Seeing me operated upon, they 'll be glad
to offer themselves."
"Perhaps so," replied the shepherd, laying hold of the animal's horns;
"but I never kill more than one sheep at a time. Mutton won't keep in
hot weather."
The chops tasted excellently well with tomato sauce.
The moral of this fable isn't what you think it is. It is this: The
chops of another man's mutton are _always_ nice eating.
XXII.
Two travellers between Teheran and Bagdad met half-way up the vertical
face of a rock, on a path only a cubit in width.
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