A Hindoo Story--an Apt Judge

A tiger, prowling in a forest, was attracted by a bleating calf. It proved to be bait, and the tiger found himself trapped in a spring cage. There he lay for two days, when a Brahmin happed to pass that way. " Brahmin !" piteously criod the beast, " have mercy on me ; let me out of this cage." " Ah, but you will eat me." " Eat you! Devour my benefactor? Never could I be guilty of such a deed," responded the tigpr. The Brahmin, being benevolently inclined, was moved by these éntreaties and opened the door of the cage. Tho tiger walked up to him, wagged his tail and said : "Brahmin, prepare to die. I shall now eat you." " Oh how ungrateful ! how wicked ! Am I not your saviour P protested the trembling priest. " ïrue," said the tiger, " very true ; but it is the custom of our race to eat a man when we get a chance, and I cannot afford to Iet you go." " Let us submit the case to an arbitrator," said the Brahmin. " Here comes a fox. The fox is wise ; let us abide by his decisión." " Very well," replied the tiger. The fox, assuming a judicial aspect sat on his haunches with all the dignity he could master, and, looking at his disputan ts he said : " Good friends, I am confused at the different accounts which you give of this matter ; my mind is tíot clear enough to ronder equitable judgment, but if you will be kind enough to act the whole transaction before my eyes, I shall attain into a more deñnite conception of the case. Do you, Mr. Tiger, show me just how you approached and entered the cage, and you, Mr. Brahmin, show me how you liberated him, and I shall be able to render a proper decisión." They assented, for tho fox was solemn and oracular. The tiger walked into the cage, the spring door feil and shut him in. He was a prisoner. The judicial expression faded from the fox's countenance, and, turning to the Baahmin, he said : " I advise you to go home as fast as you can, and abstain in future from doing favors to rascally tigers. Good morning, Brahim ; good morning, Mr. Tiger."