18. Lo the wanderer looking with wonder on the eyes of the antelope, and finding their resemblance with those of his dear one at home, remains stupified as statue at the sight of the objects exposed to his view.
19. The peacock instead of drinking water from the ground, snatches by force the snake from underneath; wherefore I am at a loss to know which of these to blame for its malice. (The peacock kills the snake, but this one destroys all living creatures).
20. Why is it that the peacock shuns to drink in the large lake, which is as liberal as the minds of great men; and is content to swallow the drops of rain water, spit out and spirted by the cloud; unless it be for shame of stooping down his head, to drink the water of the lake.
21. See the peacock dancing, with displaying his gaudy train to the clouds; and oscillating their starry plumage in the rain, as if they were the offspring of the rainy season.
22. The rainy dark cloud which was carried by the wind from the bed of ocean, appeared over the forest lake and met with the gleeful dancing peacock below.
23. It is better for thee, O chátaka! to pick up the blades of grass for thy food, and drink the water of the fountains, and rest in the shady plantain grove of the forest; than to dwell in the hollow cave of a withered tree in sultry heat, by thy pride of never stooping down for thy subsistence.
24. Think not, O peacock! this cloud to be a sea and the abode of sharks; but know to be a watery cloud, born of the smoke of wild fire, and of the vapours of the mountain and ascending to the sky. (Therefore thou canst not fear to dance before it).
25. The peacock seeing the cloud that was so profuse of rain even in autumn, becoming sometimes so scant of its supply as not even to fill a tank (such as in times of drought), sustains its thirst with patience, in gratitude to the past favours of the cloud; nor does it fain to blame its former supporter for failing, nor deigns to drink any other earthly water like the common people.
26. The peacock that was wont to drink the crystal drops of the clouds, would not now stoop to drink the dirty water of the ditch, though pressed and pinched by drought and thirst; because the sweet remembrance of his past beverage, supports him from fainting, and the expectation of fresh draughts, preserves him from dying.
27. Travellers mitigate the toils of their journey, by mutual conversation on the way; as the ignorant that cannot commune with themselves, communicate their thoughts with others, to beguile the tediousness of their lives.