Panchatantra: The Pert Hen-Sparrow

From The Panchatantra of Vishnu Sharma, translated by Arthur W. Ryder (1925).

The Pert Hen-Sparrow

[Inside Book 4. Loss Of Gains.]

In a certain wood lived a sparrow and his wife who had built their nest on the branch of a tree. One day in the month of February a monkey took shelter under the tree; for he had been caught in an unseasonable hail-storm, and his body shivered to the slightest breeze. Since his teeth were making music and his face was woebegone and his hands and feet were tightly clenched, the hen-sparrow said to him compassionately:

With hands and feet of human plan,

Almost you seem to be a man.

So, if you find the weather cool,

Why not construct a house, you fool?

When the monkey heard this, he reflected: "Well, well, some people fancy themselves. Here is this paltry hen-sparrow who has a good opinion of her own judgement. The well-known saying is correct:

Of self-conceit all creatures show

An adequate supply:

The plover lies with claws up-stretched

To prop the falling sky."

Thereupon he said to her:

You slut! You wench! You smarty!

You needle-face! Be still,

Or I will spoil the party;

I will, I will, I will.

But she continued to ply him with excellent advice concerning the construction of a house, even after he had thus requested her not to do so. So he climbed the tree and destroyed her nest, breaking it to bits. 

"And that is why I say:

Give counsel only when it fits

To such as seek the best.

The foolish monkey broke to bits

The sparrow's cosy nest.