"The measure of rice is worth your whole city," replied the foolish fellow.
The ministers clapped their hands, laughing, and saying, "What a foolish Valuer! How can such a man hold that office? We used to think this great city was beyond price, but this man says it is worth only a measure of rice."
Then the king was ashamed, and drove out the foolish fellow.
"I tried to please the king by setting a low price on the horses, and now see what has happened to me!" said the Valuer, as he ran away from the laughing crowd.
IX.
THE FOOLISH, TIMID RABBIT
Once upon a time, a Rabbit was asleep under a palm-tree.
All at once he woke up, and thought: "What if the world should break up! What then would become of me?"
At that moment, some Monkeys dropped a cocoanut. It fell down on the ground just back of the Rabbit.