Cobwebs from an Empty Skull

A man crossing the great river of Egypt, heard a voice, which seemed to come from beneath his boat, requesting him to stop.  Thinking it must proceed from some river-deity, he laid down his paddle and said: 

“Whoever you are that ask me to stop, I beg you will let me go on.  I have been asked by a friend to dine with him, and I am late.”

“Should your friend pass this way,” said the voice, “I will show him the cause of your detention.  Meantime you must come to dinner with me.”

“Willingly,” replied the man, devoutly, very well pleased with so extraordinary an honour; “pray show me the way.”

“In here,” said the crocodile, elevating his distending jaws above the water and beckoning with his tongue—­“this way, please.”

This fable shows that being asked to dinner is not always the same thing as being asked to dine.