The king said to the Bráhman, ‘Thou hast narrated the story of being cautious of the deceit of enemies, and not being beguiled by their words, and of guarding oneself from the injury of the hypocrisy and fraud of foes, and from the calamity of the perfidious and insidious schemes of enemies although they should appear in the guise of friends. My request now is, that thou wouldest explain the story of one who exerted himself to gain a thing, and after having obtained the object of his desire, indulging in carelessness, threw away what he had gained.’ The Bráhman opened the mouth of praise, and recited from the page of eulogy these panegyrical verses.

It is not concealed from the penetrating mind of the king, which is the happy site of infinite benevolence, that it is easier to acquire than to preserve a thing. For many precious things may be obtained through a happy contingency and the assistance of fortune, and the aid of destiny; without the woe of exertion and the pain of labor. The retention of them, however, save by clear counsels and proper measures, is impracticable; and whoever is destitute of the ornament of caution and foresight, and who does not* walk vigorously in the plain of good sense and a regard for consequences; what he has acquired soon falls into the plain of spoliation and ruin, and nothing is left in the grasp of his option but regret and contrition. Just in this manner the friendship of one so attached as the Monkey, was gained without the trouble of labor and exertion, by the Tortoise, and through folly and ignorance was lost by him; and the wound of his fatuity and stupidity found no healing-plaster.’ The king inquired, ‘How was that?’