Two pots standing side by side on a riverbank were plunged into the water when the bank collapsed.  One was an iron pot, the other was a delicately carved gourd.  ‘Stay close to me,’ the iron pot called to the gourd.  ‘I’ll protect you!’ ‘Thank you, friend,’ said the gourd, ‘but I beg you, keep your distance.  One inadvertent touch from you and I could be broken in pieces.’  The iron pot solemnly agreed to keep this in mind, but, alarmed that the pot might do her damage, and believing that a slighter vessel can put no trust in a thing so much stronger, the gourd said, ‘I cannot shake off the fear that whether the current crashes me into you, or you into me, I will be the first victim of the encounter!'

Moral: Equals make the best friends