FAVOURITE FABLES. 145

together, and overtaking the Ass on the road, said to him :—
‘‘ Brother, it is a long way to court, and it certainly must be
much more tedious to you than to ourselves, because of your
slow pace; but we can avoid the trouble of going thither, if
you think fit. Let us three confess ourselves to one another,
and send our absolutions to court, attested by two of us as

witnesses.”’
The Ass liked the proposal; into a clover field they
went, and the Fox thus confessed himself first:—‘It hap-

pened, as Iwas going one night through a village, a Cock, by
his loud crowing, disturbed all the people that were asleep; at
which I grew very angry, and bit off his head; then, fearing
that the stench of his dead body might be offensive to the
Hens, I ate him up. Nevertheless, it happened, three days
after, as I was going by the same village, those very Hens
spied me; and, instead of thanking me for the great kindness
I had done them, cried out, ‘Murderer, murderer!’ Then
I, in defence of my honour, killed three of them; and, lest
they should have stunk and offended the neighbourhood, ate
them up too. This is all I have done; for which I now
await your sentence.”

The Wolf thereupon expressed himself thus :—‘‘ You
have, indeed, offended against the letter of our monarch’s
law, but not against the meaning of it; since your intentions
were honourable, to take care of the quiet of men, and to

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