Two Travelers upon a mountain path
Were once confronted by a Bear in wrath;
The one he clambered up a tree with vim
And sat contentedly upon a limb;
And so the other dropped and held his breath,
Lying upon his paunch and feigning death.
The Bear came up and nosed about his head,
And (as a Bear will never touch the dead)
He snorted off. Then from the tree the other,
Descending nimbly, jested: " Well, my brother,
What was it he was whispering in your ear? " —
" Why, he advised me not to travel here
And

MORAL

on all travels to avoid the chum
Who will desert one when disasters come. "