This fable teaches.
XLVII.
"I hate snakes who bestow their caresses with interested partiality or fastidious discrimination," boasted a boa constrictor. "My affection is unbounded; it embraces all animated nature. I am the universal shepherd; I gather all manner of living things into my folds. Entertainment here for man and beast!"
"I should be glad of one of your caresses," said a porcupine, meekly; "it has been some time since I got a loving embrace."
So saying, he nestled snugly and confidingly against the large-hearted serpent—who fled.
A comprehensive philanthropy may be devoid of prejudices, but it has its preferences all the same.
XLVIII.
During a distressing famine in China a starving man met a fat pig, who, seeing no chance of escape, walked confidently up to the superior animal, and said:
"Awful famine! isn't it?"
"Quite dreadful!" replied the man, eyeing him with an evident purpose: "almost impossible to obtain meat."