The absence of oil on the head is a distinct mark of poverty in the East. A thin stomach would also be regarded as a sign of poverty in a country like Bengal, especially where “The fair round belly” of Shakespeare, and “The front like the front of Ganesh” of the Bengali, is regarded as a mark of prosperity. A good story is told of an Indian client who had full confidence in the English barrister to whom he had entrusted his case because he was a very fat individual.
There is a reference here to a story, found in the Puranas, a familiar child’s tale in Bengal, of a sage who was disturbed in his quiet meditation by seeing a cat pursuing a mouse: he turned the mouse into a tiger that it might escape from the cat, but he very speedily had to turn the tiger back into a mouse again, as the beast was about to attack and kill him.
Many are the stories told of the wariness of the Indian crow.
There is a beautiful figure taken from a large tree in “Sakuntala;” in reference to a king’s responsibilities, it is said:—
“Honour to him who labours day by day”
“For the world’s weal, forgetful of his own,”
“Like some tall tree that with its stately head”
“Endures the solar beam, while underneath”
“It yields refreshing shelter to the weary.”
Sir M. Monier-William’s Translation.