who has so
ill an opinion of me. I pray you, therefore, to dismiss me, and to put
me in the right way to my cousin the cat."

"I am not a griffin of many words," answered the master of the cavern,
"and I give you your choice,--be my servant or be my breakfast; it is
just the same to me. I give you time to decide till I have smoked out my
pipe."

The poor dog did not take so long to consider. "It is true," thought he,
"that it is a great misfortune to live in a cave with a griffin of
so unpleasant a countenance; but, probably, if I serve him well and
faithfully, he'll take pity on me some day, and let me go back to earth,
and prove to my cousin what a rogue the fox is; and as to the rest,
though I would sell my life as dear as I could, it is impossible to
fight a griffin with a mouth of so monstrous a size." In short, he
decided to stay with the griffin.

"Shake a paw on it," quoth the grim smoker; and the dog shook paws.

"And now," said the griffin, "I will tell you what you are to do. Look
here," and moving his tail, he showed the dog a great heap of gold and
silver, in a hole in the ground, that he had covered with the folds of
his tail; and also, what the dog thought more valuable, a great heap of
bones of very tempting appearance. "Now," said the griffin, "during the
day I can take very good care of these myself; but at night it is very
necessary that I should go to sleep, so when I sleep you must watch over
them instead of me."

"Very well," said the dog. "As to the gold and silver, I have no
objection; but I would much rather that you would lock up the bones, for
I'm often hungry of a night, and--"

"Hold your tongue," said the griffin.

"But, sir," said the dog, after a short silence, "surely nobody ever
comes into so retired a situation! Who are the thieves, if I may make
bold to ask?"

"Know," answered the griffin, "that there are a great many serpents in
this neighbourhood. They are always trying to steal my treasure; and if
they catch me napping, they, not contented with theft, would do their
best to sting me to death. So that I am almost worn out for want of
sleep."

"Ah," quoth the dog, who was fond of a good night's rest, "I don't envy
you your treasure, sir."

At night, the griffin, who had a great deal of penetration, and saw that
he might depend on the dog, lay down to sleep in another corner of the
cave; and the dog, shaking himself well, so as to be quite awake, took
watch over the trea