Quoth the mouse，'I have made me for my house these seventy openings，whence I may go out at my desire，and I have set apart a place strong and safe，for things of price；and if thou can contrive to get the merchant out of the house，I doubt not of success，an so be that Fate aid me.' Answered the flea，'I will engage to get him out of the house for thee；'and，going to the merchant's bed，bit him a fearful bite，such as he had never before felt，then fled to a place of safety，where he had no fear of the man.So the merchant awoke and sought for the flea，but finding him not，lay down again on his other side.Then the flea bit him a second time more painfully than before.So he lost patience and，leaving his bed，went out and lay down on the bench before his door and slept there and woke not till the morning.Meanwhile the mouse came out and fell to carrying the dinars into her hole，till she left not a single one；and when day dawned the merchant began to suspect the folk and fancy all manner of fancies.And （continued the fox） know thou，O wise and experienced crow with the clearseeing eyes，that I tell thee this only to the intent that thou mayst reap the recompense of thy kindness to me，even as the mouse reaped the reward of her kindness to the flea；for see how he repaid her and requited her with the goodliest of requitals.Said the crow，'It lies with the benefactor to show benevolence or not to show it；nor is it incumbent on us to entreat kindly one who seeketh a connection that entaileth separation from kith and kin.If I show thee favour who art my foe by kind，I am the cause of cutting myself off from the world；
and thou，O fox，art full of wiles and guiles.Now those whose characteristics are craft and cunning，must not be trusted upon oath；and whoso is not to be trusted upon oath，in him there is no good faith.The tidings lately reached me of thy treacherous dealing with one of thy comrades，which was a wolf；and how thou didst deceive him until thou leddest him into destruction by thy perfidy and stratagems；and this thou diddest after he was of thine own kind and thou hadst long consorted with him：yet didst thou not spare him；and if thou couldst deal thus with thy fellow which was of thine own kind，how can I have trust in they truth and what would be thy dealing with thy foe of other kind than thy kind？Nor can I compare thee and me but with the saker and the birds.''How so？'asked the fox.Answered the crow，they relate this tale of The Saker[169] and the Birds.