“And you will bring one of the two,” he had said to Drupada; “for all that matters is that we should bring the same.”
But Drupada shook his head.
And Drona journeyed to a far country, and for many years the River of Time flowed between him and the man whom he wanted for friend.
And at last they were once again on the same bank of the river. And Drona’s pupils, Arjun and his brother princes, took Drupada captive and brought him to Drona.
And Drona said: “I will teach Drupada the way of friendship. Since my two sticks, to one of which he is welcome, will not do for the lighting of the fire, he shall give me half his two hundred sticks of the costliest wood.”
Drona and the Fire of Friendship
And of all Drupada’s riches—treasure of gold and emeralds and diamonds and pearls, strings of camels and horses and elephants, chariots of war and houses and slaves—he made two equal parts; and one part he gave to Drupada and one part he kept for himself, that he might begin the teaching of the way of friendship to the man who was not worthy to learn the way.
Sibi Rana and the Grey Dove
Long and long ago there lived a King called Sibi Rana. He was known to all the world as a man who protected the weak, but who yet did not withhold that which might belong to the strong.