Ill-Considered Action

The shortest and sharpest book — and the one whose frame tale gives the whole collection its warning. A ruined merchant named Jewel, told in a dream to club a passing Jain monk, watches the monk fall as solid gold and restore his fortune. A barber who sees it grasps only the outward act, sets upon a company of monks in his greed, and is seized and punished for a deed he never paused to understand. Around this frame the book gathers tales of rash, unexamined action — most beloved among them the loyal mongoose, struck down in haste by the master it had just saved — all teaching one lesson: look before you leap.