Kalílah said, ‘They have related that a Monkey saw a Carpenter sitting upon a piece of timber, which he was cutting, and he had two wedges, one of which he hammered into the cleft of the wood, so that the cutting was facilitated, and the passage for the going and returning of the saw was widened, and when the fissure passed a certain limit he knocked in the other wedge and drew out the former one, and in this manner he continued working. The Monkey amused himself with looking on: suddenly the Carpenter, in the middle of his work, on some urgent occasion, got up and went away, and when the Monkey saw the coast clear he immediately seated himself in the piece of wood, and in that portion where it was cut asunder, the lower parts of his body went down into the cleft. The Ape drew out of the cleft of the timber the wedge that was in front, before hammering in the other, and as soon as it was extracted the two divisions of the wood closed and the hinder parts of the monkey were firmly fixed in the midst of the log. The wretched Ape, agonized by the pain, screamed out and said,

My business is to pluck fruit, not to handle a saw, and my profession is to look about me in the jungle, not to chop with hatchet and adze.

The Ape was thus soliloquizing, when the carpenter returned and handled him as he deserved; and the affairs of the Monkey terminated through that officiousness in his destruction, and hence they have said,

And I have introduced this example that thou mayest know that every one should do his own business, and not step beyond his due limits, and ‘For every business there are men.’ And how finely have they said,

Give up this affair which is no business of thine, and regard the small provision and food which reaches us, as a piece of good fortune.’ Damnah said, ‘Every one who seeks to be about the persons of kings, ought not to do so for the sake of food and provision, since the stomach is filled in all places and with all things. But the advantage of attendance on princes is the obtaining of high office, in order that in that position one may, by favor, gratify his friends and deal rigorously with his enemies. And every one, whose spirit can stoop to the consideration of mere food, is to be reckoned with brutes, like a hungry dog who is pleased with a bone, and a mean-spirited cat that is content with a crumb of bread; and I have observed, that if a lion is chasing a hare, should he see a wild ass, he discontinues [chasing his first quarry] and turns to pursue the wild ass.

And whoever has attained a lofty station, though his life should be short as that of a flower, still, on account of his fair fame, the wise attribute to him long life; and he who bows the head to servility and meanness of soul, though he may abide for a long time like the leaf of the pine, yet, in the opinion of men of eminence, he finds no esteem, and they make no account of him.’

Kalílah said, ‘The pursuit of dignities and high offices beseems that class, who by the nobleness of their descent and the grace of their manners and high birth, possess a fitness and capacity for such things; and we are not of this order so as to be suited to lofty stations, or that we should advance the step of exertion in pursuit of them.

Damnah said, ‘The source of greatness is intellect and accomplishments, not race and descent. Every one who possesses a clear understanding and a perfect judgment, raises himself from a low origin to an exalted rank; and whoever has a weak mind and a mean intellect, brings himself down from a lofty position to a low rank.

And the ancients have said that elevation to exalted rank is attainable only by great trouble; and descent from an honorable station is brought about with little pains; as one can lift on one’s shoulder from the ground a heavy stone only with great exertion, and must by the slightest movement, drop it to the earth; and hence it is that no one is able to relish the pursuit of lofty things, save a man of high spirit who possesses the ability of undergoing labour.

Every one who seeks the indulgence, ‘Obscurity is ease,’ having washed his hands of honor, will, to all time, remain a recluse in the corner of abasement and unfulfilment of his wishes, and he who dreads not the thorny ground of ‘Notoriety is a misfortune,’ will in a short time pluck the rose of his wish, and sit in the flower-garden of honor on the cushion of pleasure.

But perhaps thou hast never heard the story of those two companions, one of whom by the endurance of toil and hardship, reached the pinnacle of regal dignity, and the other, through indolence and self-indulgence, remained in the abyss of want and distress.’ Kalílah said ‘How was that?’