I REYNARD THE FOX 5

though I myself complain of no injury, yet was
the pudding mine and not his; for I won it by
night out of a mill when the miller lay asleep,
so that if Czrtozs could challenge any share
thereof, it must be from mine interest.’

When Panther heard these words of the cat,
he stood forth and said, ‘Do you imagine,
Tibert, that it were a just or a good course
that Reynard should not be complained upon?
Why the whole world knows he is a murderer,
a vagabond, and a thief. Indeed he loveth not

 

truly any creature, no not his Majesty himself,
but would suffer his highness to lose both
honour and renown, so that he might thereby
attain to himself but so much as the leg of
a fat hen; I shall tell you what I saw him
do yesterday to KAyward the hare, that
now standeth in the King’s protection. He
promised unto Ayward that he would teach