oks; that he might compel me to work for him;
and that he even had a right to poison me (as they poisoned troublesome
insects) whenever he was tired of the burden of my support, or wished to
study my anatomy.

On the other hand, it was maintained that the fact of my being a
Batrachian had no bearing on my moral rights, and ought not to have upon
my social and legal rights. The capacity which I had for understanding
the moral law and for feeling injustice gave me a claim to justice.
Whoever has the moral sense to claim rights is by that very endowment
vested with rights. "The true brotherhood between us rational animals,"
said this party, "is founded in our rationality and in our sentiments of
justice and piety, and not in our animal nature. But this Batrachian,
although belonging to the lower orders of animal nature, partakes with
us of reason and of the sentiments of justice and piety. He is therefore
our brother, and his rights are as sacred as our own. He is the guest,
and not the chattel, of the family who discovered him. To sell him or to
buy him, to force him to labor against his will, to hold his life less
sacred than our own, would be criminal."

Of course I knew nothing of all this until I had been there for several
years, and acquired a tolerable familiarity with their speech. Indeed,
it required a considerable time for the feud to arrive at its highest.
But at length party strife concerning me and concerning the relative
superiority of the two races rose to such a pitch, that I seriously
feared lest I should be the innocent cause of a civil war in this once
happy island. Moreover, I saw that my presence was becoming a source of
serious inconvenience to my host and to his family. They were attached
to me, that I could not doubt; but neither could I doubt that it was
unpleasant to them to have old acquaintances decline any further
intercourse with them because they had allowed a Batrachian to sit at
table with them.

Very reluctantly I decided that I would ask Copernicus to restore me to
my own family on Earth. First I broke the matter cautiously to my host,
and explained to him confidentially my real origin and my intended
return. He was astonished beyond measure at my revelation, and I could
with difficulty persuade him that I was not of celestial nature. We
talked it over daily for several weeks, and then explained it to the
family, and afterwards to a select circle of friends, who were to
publish it afte