ave the treasure but
for one moment, or to have given him any part of it, ay, but a single
bone, he would have crushed you in an instant, and stung me to death
ere I could have waked; but none, no, not the most venomous thing in
creation, has power to hurt the honest!"

"That has always been my belief," answered the dog; "and now, sir, you
had better go to sleep again and leave the rest to me."

"Nay," answered the griffin, "I have no longer need of a servant; for
now that the king of the serpents is dead, the rest will never molest
me. It was only to satisfy his avarice that his subjects dared to brave
the den of the griffin."

Upon hearing this the dog was exceedingly delighted; and raising himself
on his hind paws, he begged the griffin most movingly to let him return
to earth, to visit his mistress the cat, and worry his rival the fox.

"You do not serve an ungrateful master," answered the griffin. "You
shall return, and I will teach you all the craft of our race, which is
much craftier than the race of that pettifogger the fox, so that you may
be able to cope with your rival."

"Ah, excuse me," said the dog, hastily, "I am equally obliged to you;
but I fancy honesty is a match for cunning any day, and I think myself a
great deal safer in being a dog of honour than if I knew all the tricks
in the world."

"Well," said the griffin, a little piqued at the dog's bluntness, "do as
you please; I wish you all possible success."

Then the griffin opened a secret door in the side of the cabin, and
the dog saw a broad path that led at once into the wood. He thanked
the griffin with all his heart, and ran wagging his tail into the open
moonlight. "Ah, ah, master fox," said he, "there's no trap for an honest
dog that has not two doors to it, cunning as you think yourself."

With that he curled his tail gallantly over his left leg, and set off
on a long trot to the cat's house. When he was within sight of it, he
stopped to refresh himself by a pool of water, and who should be there
but our friend the magpie.

"And what do _you_ want, friend?" said she, rather disdainfully, for the
dog looked somewhat out of case after his journey.

"I am going to see my cousin the cat," answered he.

"_Your cousin_! marry come up," said the magpie; "don't you know she is
going to be married to Reynard the fox? This is not a time for her to
receive the visits of a brute like you."

These words put the dog in such a passion that he