Told by RAMESWAR-PURI, a wandering religious beggar
of Kharwá, District Mirzápur.
Fowler catches a Quail--"I'll teach you three things, and if you free me
I'll teach you a fourth: (1) Never set free what you have caught; (2)
What seems to you untrue you need not believe; (3) What is past you
should not trouble about"--He sets the Quail free--Says the Quail, "I
have in my stomach a gem weighing 1 1/4 seers, and worth lakhs of
rupees; had you not let me go you would have that gem"--Fowler falls on
the ground in misery--Says the Quail, "You forget my teaching: (1) You
set me free; (2) You did not ask how a body so light could contain such
a gem; (3) You are troubled about what is past"--Flies away--Fowler
returns home a wiser man.
Compare the "Laughable Stories of Bar-Hebraeus," E. A. W. Budge (Luzac,
1897), No. 382, where a Sparrow acts as this Quail does. See also the
"Three Counsels worth Money" in No. 485.