r ancestor stole the crow's dinner.'

'Don't say stole, Cat; it is not pretty. Obtained by superior ability.'

'I beg your pardon,' said the Cat; 'it is all living with those men.
That is not the point. Well, but I want to know whether you are any
wiser or any better than Foxes were then?'

'Really,' said the Fox, 'I am what Nature made me. I don't know. I am
proud of my ancestors, and do my best to keep up the credit of the
family.'

'Well, but Fox, I mean do you improve? do I? do any of you? The men are
always talking about doing their duty, and that, they say, is the way to
improve, and to be happy. And as I was not happy I thought that had,
perhaps, something to do with it, so I came out to talk to the
creatures. They also had the old chant--duty, duty, duty; but none of
them could tell me what mine was, or whether I had any.'

The Fox smiled. 'Another leaf out of your schoolroom,' said he. 'Can't
they tell you there?'

'Indeed,' she said, 'they are very absurd. They say a great deal about
themselves, but they only speak disrespectfully of us. If such creatures
as they can do their duty, and improve, and be happy, why can't we?'

'They say they do, do they?' said the Fox. 'What do they say of me?'

The Cat hesitated.

'Don't be afraid of hurting my feelings, Cat. Out with it.'

'They do all justice to your abilities, Fox,' said she; 'but your
morality, they say, is not high. They say you are a rogue.'

'Morality!' said the Fox. 'Very moral and good they are. And you really
believe all that? What do they mean by calling me a rogue?'

'They mean you take whatever you can get, without caring whether it is
just or not.'

'My dear Cat, it is very well for a man, if he can't bear his own face,
to paint a pretty one on a panel and call it a looking-glass; but you
don't mean that it takes _you_ in.'

'Teach me,' said the Cat. 'I fear I am weak.'

'Who get justice from the men unless they can force it? Ask the sheep
that are cut into mutton. Ask the horses that draw their ploughs. I
don't mean it is wrong of the men to do as they do; but they needn't lie
about it.'

'You surprise me,' said the Cat.

'My good Cat, there is but one law in the world. The weakest goes to the
wall. The men are sharper-witted than the creatures, and so they get the
better of them and use them. They may call it just if they like; but
when a tiger eats a man I guess he has just as much justice on his side
as the man when he eats