In the beginning not one of all the beasts of the forest was endowed
with sense: when they saw a hunter come to them intending to kill them,
they stood and looked at the hunter, and so the hunter killed them; day
after day he killed them. Then our Lord sent one who put all the sense
into a bag, tied it, carried it, and put it down under a large tree.
The Weasel saw the man put the bag down, and afterward went, called the
Hare, and said to him:
"Brother Hare, I saw a man put something down under a tree, but as I
went to take it, I could not; so let us go and if thou wilt take it I
will show it to thee that thou mayest do so."
When the Weasel and the Hare had gone together to where the bag was,
the Weasel said to the Hare, "Behold, here is the thing which I could
not take and for which I called thee here."
But as the Hare went and attempted to take it, he could not, so he left
it and went away.
When he was gone the Weasel went again to take hold of the bag, but as
he attempted to take it, it was too heavy; so the Weasel did not know
what to do. Then came a Pigeon, who sat upon a tree, and said
something to the Weasel. The Weasel heard it say: "Lean it over and
take it." And again, "Bend it and take it."
As soon as he had heard this, he dragged the bag along and thus brought
it and leaned it against a tree, and caused it to stand in an inclined
position; then having gone to the bottom of it, he bowed down, put his
head to the bag, and as he drew the bag toward him it went upon his
head; this being done, he pressed himself upon the ground, rose up and
stood there. After this he went his way home, and on putting the bag
down upon the ground and untying it, the Weasel saw that there was no
other thing in the bag, but pure sense.
So he went and called the Hare again, and when the Hare was come, he
said to him:
"Brother Hare, there was not a single other thing in that bag but pure
sense: God has loved us so that to-day we have obtained sense; but do
not tell it to anybody, then I will give thee a little, and what
remains I will hide in my hole until some one comes and begs of me, and
then I will give him also a little."
So he took one sense and gave to the Hare, saying, "If thou takest home
this one sense, which I give thee, it will preserve thee. When thou
sleepest by day open thy eyes; then if one comes to thee, thinking, 'I
have got meat, I will take it,' and sees that thine eyes are open, he
will think that thou art not asleep, will leave thee alone and go; but
when thou goest and liest down without sleeping, then shut thine eyes,
and if one sees thee, and sees that thine eyes are shut, when he comes
close to thee, saying, 'I have got meat, I will take it,' then thou
wilt see him, rise up and run away into thy forest. This one sense
will be enough for thee; but what remains I will keep in mine own
house." The Hare took his one sense and went home.
Now if one sees a Hare lying with his eyes open, it sleeps, but if its
eyes are closed it is awake, and does not sleep. By this one sense
which it has got the Hare is preserved.
The Weasel took all the sense that was left and hid it in his house.
The Weasel surpasses all the beasts of the field in sense. When you
see the Weasel, and say, "There the King of Sense has come out," and
drive it before you, saying, "I will catch it," it runs into its hole;
and if you begin to dig up the hole, it comes out behind you, and runs
until you see it no more. This is why now if one sees a Weasel, one
calls it "The King of Sense."
Amongst all the beasts of the field he distributed sense only little by
little, and this is what they now have.
This word, showing how sense came abroad in the world, and the meaning
of which I have heard, is now finished.