The fowler said,
'These two, united together, are taking away my snare. There, however,
where they will quarrel they will come under my control.'
"Vidura continued, 'The two birds, doomed to death, soon after
quarrelled. And when the foolish pair quarrelled, they both fell on the
earth. And when, ensnared in the meshes of death, they began to contend
angrily against each other, the fowler approached unperceived and sized
them both. Even thus those kinsmen who fall out with one another for the
sake of wealth fall into the hands of the enemy like the birds I have
cited, in consequence of their quarrel. Eating together, talking
together,--these are the duties of kinsmen, and not contention under any
circumstances. Those kinsmen, that with loving hearts wait on the old,
become unconquerable like a forest guarded by lions. While those, O bull
of the Bharata race, that having won enormous riches nevertheless, behave
like mean-minded men, always contribute to the prosperity of their foes.
Kinsmen, O Dhritarashtra, O bull of the Bharata race, are like charred
brands, which blaze up when united but only smoke when disunited. I will
now tell thee something else that I saw on a mountain-breast.
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