"But," said Victor, "how can you give first-rate service merely from a desire for food with no desire for distinction? There is wisdom in the saying:
In hurting foes and helping friends
The wise perceive the proper ends
Of serving kings. The belly's call
To answer, is no job at all.
And again:
When many lives on one depend,
Then life is life indeed:
A crow, with beak equipped, can fill
His belly's selfish need.
If loving kindness be not shown
To friends and souls in pain,
To teachers, servants, and one's self,
What use in life, what gain?
A crow will live for many years
And eat the offered grain.
A dog is quite contented if
He gets a meatless bone,
A dirty thing with gristle-strings
And marrow-fat alone—
And not enough of it at that
To still his belly's moan.
The lion scorns the jackal, though
Between his paws, to smite
The elephant. For everyone,
However sad his plight,
Demands the recompense that he
Esteems his native right.
