'Then,' exclaimed the Bull, 'it is too bad: and in Ministers too!—
'Narrow-necked to let out little, big of belly to keep much,
As a flagon is—the Vizir of a Sultan should be such.'
'No wealth will stand such waste, your Majesty—
'He who thinks a minute little, like a fool misuses more;
He who counts a cowry nothing, being wealthy, will be poor.'
'A king's treasury, my liege, is the king's life.'
'Good brother,' observed Stiff-ears, who had heard what the Bull said, 'these Jackals are your Ministers of Home and Foreign Affairs—they should not have direction of the Treasury. They are old servants, too, and you know the saying—
'Brahmans, soldiers, these and kinsmen—of the three set none in charge:
For the Brahman, tho' you rack him, yields no treasure small or large;
And the soldier, being trusted, writes his quittance with his sword,
And the kinsman cheats his kindred by the charter of the word;
But a servant old in service, worse than any one is thought,
Who, by long-tried license fearless, knows his master's anger nought.'
Ministers, my royal brother, are often like obstinate swellings that want squeezing, and yours must be kept in order.'
'They are not particularly obedient, I confess,' said Tawny-hide.
'It is very wrong,' replied Stiff-ears; 'and if you will be advised by me—as we have banqueted enough to-day—you will appoint this grain-eating and sagacious Bull your Superintendent of Stores.'