MS-HRC-SB-4-3

[1123] abandon them. [1124] She could have gone on sorting her lentils all
night and never achieved her purpose, which was to free them from
all admixture. [1125] But in the end she would have stopped, saying, I
have done all I can do. [1126] But she would not have done all she could
have done. [1127] But the moment comes when one desists, because it is
the wisest thing to do, discouraged, but not to the extent of un-
doing all that has been done.

[1128] But what if her purpose, in sorting
the lentils, were not to rid them of all that was not lentil, but
only of the greater part, [1129] what then? [1130] I don't know. [1131] Whereas there
are other tasks, other days, of which one may fairly safely say
that they are finished, [1132] though I do not see which. [1133] She came back,
holding the lamp high and a little to one side, so as not to be
dazzled. [1134] In the other hand she held a white rabbit, by the hind-
legs.

[1135] For whereas the mule had been black, the rabbit had been
white. [1136] It was dead already, it had ceased to be. [1137] There are rabbits
that die before they are killed, from sheer fright. [1138] They have time
to do so while being taken out of the hutch, often by the ears,
and disposed in the most convenient position to receive the blow,
whether on the back of the neck or on some other part. [1139] And often
you strike a corpse, without knowing it.

[1140] For you have just seen
the rabbit alive and well behind the wire meshing, nibbling at its
leaves. [1141] And you congratulate yourself on having succeeded with the
first blow, and not caused unnecessary suffering, whereas in reality
you have taken all that trouble for nothing. [1142] This occurs most fre-
quently at night, fright being greater in the night. [1143] Hens on the
other hand are more stubborn livers and some have been observed,