Chapter 4
Two friends were traveling on the same road together when they encountered a bear. Without thinking about his companion, one of the travellers, a nimble fellow, climbed up a tree in great fear and hid himself. The other realized that he had no chance to fight the bear single-handedly, so he threw himself on the ground and pretended to be dead, for he had heard that bears will never touch a dead body. As he lay there, the bear came up to his bead, and sniffed his nose, ears, and heart, but the man remained still and held his breath. Finally, the bear was convinced that he was dead and walked away. When the bear was out of sight, the man in the tree came down and asked what it was that the bear had whispered to him, for he had observed that the bear had put his mouth close to his friend’s ear.
“It was no great secret,” the other replied. “He merely told me to watch out for the company I keep and not to trust people who abandon their friends in difficult times.”
Adversity tests the sincerity of friends.
