a man committed a murder, and was pursued by the relations of the man whom he murdered. on his reaching the river nile he saw a lion on its bank and being fearfully afraid, climbed up a tree. he found a serpent in the upper branches of the tree, and again being greatly alarmed, he threw himself into the river, where a crocodile caught him and ate him. thus the earth, the air, and the water alike refused shelter to a murderer.