ed. Where the author had briefly
mentioned that the jackal and the cat had cunningly forced their
services on the animals whom they wished to devour at their leisure, the
artist would depict the jackal and the cat equipped as peasants, with
wallets on their backs, and sticks over their shoulders, marching behind
a troup of gazelles or a flock of fat geese: it was easy to foretell the
fate of their unfortunate charges. Elsewhere it is an ox who brings
up before his master a cat who has cheated him, and his proverbial
stupidity would incline us to think that he will end by being punished
himself for the misdeeds of which he had accused the other. Puss's sly
and artful expression, the ass-headed and important-looking judge, with
the wand and costume of a high and mighty dignitary, give pungency to
the story, and recall the daily scenes at the judgment-seat of the lord
of Thebes. In another place we see a donkey, a lion, a crocodile, and a
monkey giving an instrumental and vocal concert.

[Illustration: 358.jpg THE CAT BEFORE ITS JUDGE]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Lepsius.

A lion and a gazelle play a game of chess. A cat of fashion, with a
flower in her hair, has a disagreement with a goose: they have come to
blows, and the excitable puss, who fears she will come off worst in the
struggle, falls backwards in a fright. The draughtsmen having once found
vent for their satire, stopped at nothing, and even royalty itself did
not escape their attacks. While the writers of the day made fun of the
military calling, both in prose and verse, the caricaturists parodied
the combats and triumphal scenes of the Ramses or Thutmosis of the
day depicted on the walls of the pylons. The Pharaoh of all the rats,
perched upon a chariot drawn by dogs, bravely charges an army of cats;
standing in the heroic attitude of a conqueror, he pierces them with
his darts, while his horses tread the fallen underfoot; his legions
meanwhile in advance of him attack a fort defended by tomcats, with the
same ardour that the Egyptian battalions would display in assaulting a
Syrian stronghold.

[Illustration: 359.jpg A CONCERT OF ANIMALS DEVOTED TO MUSIC]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Lepsius.

This treatment of ethics did not prevent the Egyptian writers from
giving way to their natural inclinations, and composing large volumes
on this subject after the manner of Kaqimni or Phtahhotpu. One of their
books, in which the aged Ani inscribes his